Beauty Marks: Lawyers in love

Beauty Marks

Lawyers in love

My husband and I have been married for 18 years. He is a trademark litigator, while I do trademark prosecution. We speak each other's unspoken language . . . fluently. (1)

So when I showed him this trademark layout on our toothpaste this morning (which appears on the toothbrush package below as well),

our trademark-addled minds simultaneously and seamlessly came to the same conclusion: the "with an extra" language had to have been added at the behest of a trademark lawyer. Is this statutory fair use? Can we realistically believe that the consumer sees that tiny print? Are they trying to elude an infringement challenge? Would this be a good exam question for law students? These are the types of questions that keep the Levy lawyers awake at night!

No, it's not a very glamorous existence, and yes, we do occasionally talk about other things, though our daughters would disagree. I will grant you that other two-lawyer couples with two daughters and a black and white fuzzy dog may be more prestigious and accomplished -

- but it's nice to know I married someone who doesn't find it weird when I read the toothpaste and in fact will grab it out of my hands to read it himself! You gotta keep the relationship lively!

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^{(1) Jackson Browne's song, by the way, is really not about lawyers at all, but it's a great song.}