1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,360 Speaker 1: The president owns the Trump Tower, Trump Golf Links, the 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Trump International Hotel, and a host of other things with 3 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: his name glaringly affixed, But not I Trump. That iPhone 4 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: app belongs to a forty year old engineer and amateur musician. 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: It took a six year legal fight for Tom Sharfeld 6 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: to win the trademark for the iPhone app designed to 7 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,119 Speaker 1: teach people how to play the trumpet. Joining me in 8 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: our New York studio is Bloomberg court reporter Mr Lena 9 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: Eagle for Puulu, who wrote about the legal battle. So 10 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: start by telling us about Sharfeld and his app. So. 11 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: Sharfeld is a forty year old developer who graduated from 12 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: M I T. And he has been playing musical instruments 13 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: his entire life, and so for him, the best way 14 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: to bring his degree and his passion together was to 15 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 1: create this company that makes iPhone apps that simulate musical instruments. 16 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 1: So he made one for the trombone, which he called 17 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: I Bone, and then he also made another one for 18 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: the trumpet, called I Trump. As soon as he went 19 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: to register the trademark for this app, he got a 20 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: letter from Trump's lawyers saying simply that he couldn't that 21 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: the Trump name is exclusive to them and that he 22 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: can't use it to register his application. And that was 23 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: basically the beginning of a six year battle, a legal 24 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: battle UM that was very long and torturous, in which 25 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: spoon Jack his company had to prove that this U. I. 26 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: Trump mark had nothing to do UM with Donald Trump 27 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: and the other marks that he owned, and nothing to 28 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: do with all of the other industries that Mr Trump 29 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: was involved in. So now Trump has a lot of lawyers, 30 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: expensive lawyers defending his trademark. It's very important and very 31 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: important to defend it. And you right that shore Field 32 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: did this himself. He represented himself. That is exactly one 33 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: of the most remarkable aspects of this case is that 34 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: you're exactly right. Trump's lawyers were really aggressive to make 35 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: sure they per TechEd his brand and so UM shar 36 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: felt had to put up with them, and they made 37 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: things very difficult for him. They would send him, at 38 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: times documents that were ten thousand pages long that Sharfield 39 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: how to go through UM by himself, UM to figure 40 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: out what you know, he was doing wrong. At times 41 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:21,399 Speaker 1: he'd spent months in the library trying to study trademark 42 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: law and this went on for six years. But at 43 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: the end of the day, Sharfield was right. He was 44 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: able to prove that the word trump has other meanings, 45 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: and that is the only thing he actually had to 46 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: do is prove that, you know, it's not exclusive to 47 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: Mr Trump, and that the app that he was making 48 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: had nothing to do with Mr Trump, because he cited, 49 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,959 Speaker 1: for example, Miriam's Webster's Dictionary that says that trump is 50 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: a word for trumpet. He even quoted the Bible saying 51 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: how trump was used as a substitute for trumpet. So 52 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: he won in when the Trademark Office issued a ruling 53 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: that led Trump to actually drop his opposition to the 54 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: eye Trump mark. Why didn't he stop there? Because Uh, 55 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: Trump's lawyers were being very evasive, one might say. And 56 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: the information that they were providing because as spoon Jack 57 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: eventually or Tom shar Felt eventually find out found out, 58 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: was that Trump had a lot of trademarks, not a lot, 59 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: but he found out he had three trademarks under his 60 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: name that were inactive that he wasn't using um that 61 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: were also invalid, or he was using them for things 62 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: that he hadn't registered for. Right, So then he was 63 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: scared that Trump would come back later on with those 64 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: trademarks that were invalid to to try and get him 65 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: to drop the I Trump mark, and so he went 66 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: on the attack and he ended up canceling three of 67 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: Trump's registrations. And then when Trump lost those registrations and 68 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: tried to register a fourth one, shar Feld blocked it. 69 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: And so we really do have a story here, um 70 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: that shows you know, a little a little guy going 71 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: up against the big guys and winning, which is what 72 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: the remarkable thing is about this story, David and Goliath. 73 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: Does this mean trouble for Trump's trademarks in the future 74 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: since he was able to prove this? I mean, you know, 75 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: Trump has always been very aggressive with trying to protect 76 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: his brand name, and now that he's captured the White House, 77 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: his global footprint is even bigger. And so, um, there's 78 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 1: definitely more people who want to register the Trump um name, 79 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: and if you look into the database of the Trademark Office, 80 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: there are thousands and thousands of applications. But I think 81 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: that again, this is a case by case scenario. And 82 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: so if you have someone who's trying to use the 83 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: Trump name UM, that would cause confusion to consumers. Then 84 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: that could mean, um that it's not trouble for his lawyers. 85 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: But if you know they're trying to use the word 86 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,239 Speaker 1: for something else, then that could mean trouble flawyers lawyers. 87 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: It really just depends. So, um, we have about thirty seconds. 88 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,160 Speaker 1: Did shar fail? Did this absorb him for six years? 89 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: And how is his app doing? His app is? You 90 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: know he it totally absorbed him and he didn't have 91 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: a lot of time to spend on marketing his app 92 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: or putting in updates for his app, and so it 93 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: definitely held him back a little bit. But he was 94 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: able to win the trademark, which is what's most important. Um. 95 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: And so you know, now with the legal battle at 96 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: an end, he can focus on his app and sort 97 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: of make it better. It's such a great and unusual 98 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: story with with him representing himself. That is a tough 99 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: road to home. And thank you so much for being here. 100 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: That's Mr Lena Eagle fo Pulu and she is a 101 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Court reporter who wrote about this case.