Sarah Palin and her daughter, Bristol, are a step closer to legally protecting their names.
Trademark applications for the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and her 20-year-old daughter, a finalist last season on TV’s Dancing With the Stars, are entering the final stages in the federal government’s bureaucratic maze.
“Our understanding is everything is proceeding along towards approval,” John Tiemessen, an attorney for the Palins, told USA TODAY.
Documents filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show the Palins’ applications have passed an initial review and are about to published, which would then give people who would be harmed by the trademark time to object and request a formal hearing.
Jay Dougherty, a law professor at Loyola Law School-Los Angeles, explains why celebrities trademark their names. “A person’s name is just descriptive of who they are,” he said, “but when a name is used to identify the source of services or goods, it can be used as a trademark.”
Sarah Palin, who is considering a 2012 presidential bid, has earned millions from her best-selling books. The ex-Alaska governor also receives fees for speaking engagements and is a paid contributor to Fox News.
Her trademark application states she is trying to protect her name to provide educational and entertainment services, namely “motivational speaking services in the field of politics, culture, business and values.”
Bristol Palin’s application says she is trying to provide “motivational speaking services in the field of life choices.”
Tax documents show Bristol Palin earned $262,500 in 2009 for advocating against teen pregnancy on behalf of The Candie’s Foundation. She became pregnant at 17 and is the mother of a son, Tripp.
The news that the Palins applied for trademarks was first reported in February by AOL’s Politics Daily.
Syrin's Blog 
Apr 14, 2011 @ 22:20:21
Her name is hardly worth “protecting.”
Apr 15, 2011 @ 15:15:21
Props to you for best comment on this post.
Apr 14, 2011 @ 22:21:48
So does this mean that now we will have to refer to them as “THAT ONE” and “THAT ONE, JR” ?
Apr 14, 2011 @ 22:31:36
pretty much b s right?
Apr 14, 2011 @ 22:54:29
Didn’t Giuliani (sp?) trademark his name also, too? Nothing happened on that front, I believe – people still use his name.
Apr 14, 2011 @ 23:29:59
In all fairness I have been completely entertained by Palin pretending to have an education.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 00:23:43
hahahahahahahahahahaha
Apr 14, 2011 @ 23:39:17
So when does she apply for “Snowdrift Snookie” and “Caribou Barbie”
Apr 15, 2011 @ 00:37:05
Their names are already Mud and they can’t copyright that.
What next, are they going to try to incorporate themselves? After all, they’re two-faced.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 02:52:54
Maybe they are planning a line of clothing or make-up? Neither one has an ounce of “class” and dress as though they are on their way to Wal Mart. Maybe they read (?) should say, “were told” that Jessica Simpson made Billions of $$ with her fashion line. $carah could design a line of “bumpits” or “fake bellies”
Apr 15, 2011 @ 03:55:57
Next they will be insuring their body parts. Hmmmmmm Wonder what Llyods of London would underwrite????
Apr 15, 2011 @ 04:02:29
I certainly hope this ludacris process is not costing the taxpayers any money. These two celeb wannabes can pay for their own court costs.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 04:03:43
Since when did either one of these two have anything positive to say about ‘education?’ Sarah thinks school is part of the nanny state, and Bristol couldn’t stay in high school long enough to actually graduate.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 04:30:45
I have never understood why people call her “Caribou Barbie”. To my knowledge, caribou have done nothing to deserve being associated with that lying piece of dung. Speaking of dung, isn’t “Moose Nugget Barbie” much more appropriate? Let her trademark that!
Apr 15, 2011 @ 16:24:12
I like “Moose Nugget Barbie”!
Apr 16, 2011 @ 19:52:17
Did you trademark Moose Nugget Barbie?
‘Cuz I wouldn’t mind stealing it.
Thanks in advance!
Apr 15, 2011 @ 04:54:01
Maybe they want this so they can sue anyone who says anything nasty about them? Thinking they will just get richer and richer from court cases “protecting” their trademarked names? And/or, that this will stop all the bad press? I don’t think any of this will happen, but that maybe that is a motivation?
Apr 15, 2011 @ 06:23:32
As if anyone cares. I guess it makes the Tundra Turd and her alley cat offspring feel important to trademark their names. I seriously doubt that anyone gives a rat’s ass what they trademark. It’s a damaged brand. The only thing of interest are the glasses, but then again, those are “Tina Fey glasses,” right?
Apr 15, 2011 @ 08:04:16
Among others, The Susan B. Anthony List will be sued for ¨Team Sarah.¨
Apr 15, 2011 @ 08:34:45
Awww…….what the rest of the Sarah Palin’s in the world do now??
There are sooo many names for her , Palin is the least of them!
“Education and entertainment”, that doesn’t sound like SnowDriftSnookie is running for POTUS now does it?……..LOL
Apr 15, 2011 @ 09:36:42
Great comments!
What an absolute joke! On who? Well, I’m not quite sure yet!
… educational and entertainment services, namely “motivational speaking services in the field of politics, culture, business and values.”
Please look at that list… someone tell me when Sarah Palin has ever shown she is capable, competent or educated in any of those areas!!! Talk about a hoax!
Apr 15, 2011 @ 09:55:04
Good, I can keep going with my idea of marketing ‘Bubble Bumpits’ as fashioned by Sarah and make my millions.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 14:17:12
Some thing was posted on AlaskaWTF about this.
Copied it here since AKWTF is going off the air.
Todd Palin and his hookers about to get back in the news
Alaskaanon
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Palins trademark application is now updated and has new examples of the Palin Brand in action include her response to the Giffords assassination attempt that killed six.
“My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of todays shooting in Arizona.
On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for reace and justice.”
That one. This screenshot in the updated application also shows a link to a video of a Palin statement on the subject of the Arizona killings.
View the new application documents at
http://www.tmportal.uspto.gov/external/portal/tow?SRCH=Y&isSubmitted=true&details=&SELECT=US+Serial+No&TEXT=85170226
and click on the document “specimen” with the creation date of March 9, 2011. It is a seven page pdf and the screenshot of SaarahPAC with the references to the Giffords shootings is on page. Other documents are there at the link.
A trademark professional thought this was the material that defines what she does “Providing a website featuring information about political issues”
as in the application. That would be an attorney in the law office that Sarah paid to do this.
Also too:
Alaskaanon
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Just sent Sarah Palin trademark info.
Sorry if the link to USPTO doesn’t work.
Here is how to get there for sure.
Go to http://www.uspto.gov/
Select #2 “Search Marks” under the “Trademarks” column .
Select “basic word mark search” under “Select a search option’.
Enter “Sarah Palin” in the “Search term” box and then “click “submit qwery’.
Click on ” TARR” under “check status” on the “Sarah Palin” line.
Click the link at the top for “Trademark Document retrieval”.
Click on the “specimen” withy the “creation date of march 9, 2011 to view the newly submitted materials. Page 1 of the seven page pdf has the Gifford references.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 15:12:01
Sarah Palin already has the trademark on “stoopid”.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 16:18:55
I am not a trademark attorney, but I think the trademark only applies to people want to do what they do and use those names while doing it, e.g. public speaking, fleecing the low information voters, et cetera.
Honestly, how many of us would want to stoop that low or would want to embarrass ourselves by trying to use SP’s or BP’s name?
Nice that the attorney is getting paid, though he should have advised them on the futility of spending that kind of money on the process.
I have to admit, I love that she is seeking name protection in entertainment, because I can just see cross-dressing entertainers playing her big time. She is such an overblown and exaggerated image already. What fun they would have on stage. I think they can still do that even with trademarking because they could use Scarah Falin or something like that.
Any trademark attorneys out there who could give us some feedback and general guidance?
Apr 15, 2011 @ 16:21:42
I also have to ask – “What values?”
Are we talking about Christian supremacist values, racist values, worshiping money values, lie your way to success values? She’s not alone in promoting those, unfortunately.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 16:23:27
Wait – is she trying to short-circuit Tina Fey by including “entertainment?”
Don’t think that will be very successful.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 19:31:54
What ??? Does this mean the end of nail’in Palin?
Apr 15, 2011 @ 19:55:46
Since you moderate the comments this is for the blog operator to READ AND THEN DELETE.
I was the original poster of the comments at AK WTF and can prove it.
I copied them in full because the site is going away, otherwise I would have posted a link. Anyway it’s public record.
I don’t think anyone has posted on the internet what her updated trademark application has for supporting materials. The complete application record including the initial failures to do it completely may be viewed by selecting different choices at the site in the second comment.
It seems like the statements issued by Palin after the Giffords shootings used as proof of what Palin does would be very offensive to many.
Apr 16, 2011 @ 04:14:55
Thought you might enjoy this. http://nomadicjoe.blogspot.com/2011/04/bristol-palin-not-afraid.html
Apr 16, 2011 @ 22:16:41
Doesnt’ trademarking just mean that your name cannot be associated with someone else’s financial gain from a product? Like, if I wanted to create Sarah Palin-brand condoms, I could not profit off of her name. Because her name and her celebrity are what makes my brand of condoms popular.
But if I wanted to make a free gossip site criticizing her, there’s no legal way I’d have to pay her. I mean, there’s just no way this charade could actually go down, legally. I don’t think she has any grasp at all on what trademarking even is….