[UPDATED: July 25, 2019]
You can’t turn on your radio, log into your favorite social media platform, or open your GroupMe app without hearing or seeing the hashtag #HotGirlSummer. Whether ‘Hot Girl Summer’ is your mood or not, you can’t deny that it has become the phrase of the summer. And we have H-Town Hottie + XXL 2019 Freshman Class member Megan Thee Stallion to thank for it. According to Meg, “Hot Girl Summer is about women, and men, just being unapologetically them, just having a good a** time.” Apparently, the rest of Al Gore’s internet agrees because ‘Hot Girl Summer’ has gone from a viral meme to an entire movement. Celebrities from Tom Hanks to Jada Pinkett Smith are using the phrase to caption their photos. And now, major brands like Wendy’s, H&M, and Maybelline are using ‘Hot Girl Summer’ as a marketing tool. It’s cute, but we also know it can be costly. How do we know that? Because we’ve seen it happen time and time again, where a major brand hijacks an original idea or content created by a smaller, rising talent, without permission or compensation.
So we were hella excited when news broke earlier this week that the Head Hottie in Charge (HHIC), Thee Stallion, was in the process of securing a trademark registration for the now infamous phrase, ‘Hot Girl Summer’. On Monday, Billboard reported that it had confirmed that Megan was in the process of trademarking ‘Hot Girl Summer’. The report stated that the trademark was filed on July 10, 2019. Excited to share the news with our tribe, we ran over to the USPTO website to review the application for ourselves. Turns out, the Billboard report is only half true. Megan Thee Stallion, by way of her label, has submitted an application to secure a trademark, but NOT for ‘Hot Girl Summer’ and NOT on July 10th.
Here’s the tea…
On April 26, 2019, a trademark application was submitted for ‘Hot Girl Meg’, in five different categories, including entertainment, streaming music, downloadable music, apparel, and a gang of merchandise, ranging from stationery to posters to cell phone and tablet cases. The application was filed as an intent-based application, meaning the mark is not yet in use in a manner required by trademark law. Theory Entertainment, LLC is the named trademark owner. Who is Theory Entertainment, LLC and how are they related to the HHIC? Theory Entertainment, LLC is the legal name for 300 Entertainment, which is a fairly new music label co-founded by Kevin Liles and a few other industry heavyweights. The 300 Entertainment artist roster includes hitmakers such as Yung Thug, Tee Grizzely, and your fave hottie, Megan Thee Stallion.
So what’s up with the ‘Hot Girl Summer’ trademark application filed on July 10th?
We had the same question + after some digging, we found the answer. An individual, whom we won’t name here, filed an application to secure a trademark for the phrase ‘Hot Girl Summer’ in connection with apparel, such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and yoga pants. This application was filed on July 10th, and like the application filed by Meg’s label, is an intent based application. It is likely that this application is the one Billboard was referring to in their report earlier this week. We were unable to find any connection between Megan or 300 Entertainment and the named trademark owner. In all likelihood, the applicant is someone looking to cash in from the HHIC’s summer catchphrase, by beating her to the registration and later assigning the rights to her for a price higher than giraffe lips. Remember when someone filed a trademark for Blue Ivy, beating our other favorite H-Town representer to the registration? Yeah, we do too. There’s a key difference though. That trademark owner had priority over the mark because they had been operating an events company under the name Blue Ivy since Jay Z was rocking throwback jerseys + tall tees, and well before Blue Ivy was conceived. So we will absolutely be keeping an eye on the progress of both applications. We’re willing to bet that the later application might be flagged by the Examining Attorney. You already know you can count on your favorite firm for creatives to keep you up to speed.
[UPDATE]
When we said we’d keep you up to speed, we didn’t expect that it’d be less than 24 hours later, but here we are. It looks like the Billboard announcement that Megan Thee Stallion was in the process of securing a trademark for ‘Hot Girl Summer’ was not only news to us, it also seemed to be news to Meg + team. How do we know that? We don’t. We’re making an educated guess because we woke up to find that, on July 21st–the same day Billboard made the announcement, Theory Entertainment, LLC submitted a trademark application for (yep, you guessed it), ‘Hot Girl Summer’. The application for ‘Hot Girl Summer’ was filed nearly identical to the application for ‘Hot Girl Meg’. The new application filed on Monday was also submitted in connection with five classes, including entertainment, streaming music, downloadable music, apparel, and merchandise. What we can’t wrap our heads around though, is why Theory Entertainment decided to file an intent-based application when the mark is already in use–especially since someone beat them to filing the mark. We’ll discuss this in more detail in another post later this week.
We know what you’re asking yourself right now…
“If it was filed on July 21st, why didn’t you know this yesterday when you told us that Meg, in fact, had NOT filed a trademark for Hot Girl Summer?”. That’s a valid question. We didn’t know because it hadn’t posted to the USPTO yet. Typically, it takes about 72 hours for new applications to populate to the USPTO’s system. If you think that’s a long time, we’re sure you’d clutch your pearls if you knew how long it took for the application to be review. About 3 months. That’s how long. Are you clutching your pearls yet?
So what does this mean?
It could mean a lot of things, but what we know for a fact is that it’s about to get ugly. ::queue Bubba Sparxxx:: The applicant that filed the trademark on July 10th will likely have priority. Not only did they submit their application first, but Meg’s team slipped when they filed their ‘Hot Girl Summer’ as an intent-based application. Had Theory Entertainment submitted the ‘Hot Girl Summer’ application as a use-based application, they would have had a chance to oppose the July 10th application, citing that they are the common law owners of the mark. So why would Meg’s team come behind the applicant and file an intent-based application if they’re already using it? And what will this mean once both applications are under review? We’ve got you covered. Next week, we’ll be back to share our initial thoughts on what we think Meg’s strategy is, plus spill a little more tea on how we think the USPTO will handle the two applications. So run to the kitchen + wash your mug, while we prep this tea. Chat soon, Tribe!