Patent Attorney and Founder
Introduction
On this episode of the Bold Inventor Show, J.D. Houvener and Matt Kulseth answer some of the most interesting intellectual property questions submitted by inventors and entrepreneurs. They dive into proposed patent legislation, explain how patent enforcement could change under the Patent Restore Act, discuss trademark protection for motorcycle clubs, answer a common patent ownership question, and even break down the branding strategy behind Manscaped’s successful Shark Tank appearance.
Whether you’re an inventor, startup founder, entrepreneur, or business owner, this episode offers practical insights into patents, trademarks, branding, and protecting your intellectual property. As always, the discussion is educational in nature and should not be considered legal advice.
Bold Inventor Show Podcast Transcript
J.D. Houvener:
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Bold Inventor Show. I’m J.D. Houvener, Registered USPTO Patent Attorney, joined by Trademark Attorney Matt Kulseth.
We’re excited you’re here. Every episode is designed to help inventors, entrepreneurs, business owners, and anyone building something new better understand patents, trademarks, and intellectual property strategy.
Before we jump in, a quick reminder: today’s discussion is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice.
Today’s episode covers two proposed pieces of patent legislation, the Patent Restore Act and the PREVAIL Act, along with several audience questions on patents and trademarks.
Matt Kulseth:
As always, thanks for joining us. We enjoy sharing what we’ve learned over the years. Whether you’re watching live or catching the replay, we appreciate you spending time with us.
J.D. Houvener:
Our audience is incredibly diverse. We have attorneys watching, but also inventors, startup founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are trying to determine whether patents or trademarks make sense for their ideas.
Let’s jump into our first question.
Audience Question
“Do you believe the Patent Restore Act and the PREVAIL Act will rebalance the scales in patent infringement litigation?”
J.D. Houvener:
This question actually came in a couple of weeks ago.
I’ll admit, I initially skipped it because I wasn’t familiar enough with the proposed legislation. I wanted to do my homework before discussing it publicly.
After spending some time researching both bills, I have a much better understanding of what they’re attempting to accomplish.
Matt Kulseth:
I’ll start with an important disclaimer.
While our firm focuses heavily on patent prosecution and trademark registration, we don’t handle full-scale federal patent litigation ourselves.
When litigation becomes necessary, we work with experienced litigation counsel who specialize in that area.
It’s actually fairly uncommon for one attorney or even one firm to specialize in both patent prosecution and federal patent litigation because they’re very different practice areas.
J.D. Houvener:
Exactly.
Even though we aren’t litigators, it’s still extremely important for patent attorneys to stay current on changes in patent law.
Patent rights don’t exist in a vacuum.
Federal Circuit decisions, Supreme Court rulings, and proposed legislation can all affect the value and enforceability of an issued patent.
One well-known example is the Supreme Court’s Alice decision, which dramatically changed how software-related inventions are evaluated for patent eligibility.
That’s why proposals like the Patent Restore Act deserve attention.
What Is the Patent Restore Act?
J.D. Houvener:
One of the key ideas behind the Patent Restore Act relates to injunctions after a patent owner wins an infringement lawsuit.
Historically, if a court determined that infringement occurred, the expectation was fairly straightforward: the infringer had to stop.
However, after the Supreme Court’s eBay v. MercExchange decision, courts were no longer required to automatically grant permanent injunctions.
That significantly changed the landscape.
Today, even if a patent owner successfully proves infringement, there’s no guarantee the infringing activity immediately stops.
The Patent Restore Act seeks to restore a stronger presumption that once infringement has been definitively established, the infringer should no longer be permitted to continue making, using, selling, or importing the patented invention.
Personally, I believe that would move the balance back toward stronger patent enforcement.
Matt Kulseth:
That certainly makes sense from a patent owner’s perspective.
If you’ve proven infringement after investing significant time and resources, it’s understandable why you’d expect meaningful relief from the court.
What About the PREVAIL Act?
J.D. Houvener:
The PREVAIL Act is a bit more technical.
Much of it focuses on post-grant proceedings like Inter Partes Review (IPR).
At a high level, the proposal attempts to reduce situations where defendants effectively have to fight multiple battles over the same patent in different forums.
The goal is to streamline portions of the process and create greater efficiency.
While there are many details still being debated, the overall objective appears to be reducing unnecessary duplication while improving fairness for everyone involved.
Matt Kulseth:
That’s one of those topics where the procedural details can become incredibly complicated.
It’s definitely worth continuing to follow as Congress considers these proposals.
J.D. Houvener:
Absolutely.
We’ll continue monitoring both bills and keep our audience updated as they develop.
Audience Question
“How do I patent the name and patches for my motorcycle club?”
Matt Kulseth:
That’s actually a great question, and it’s one I’ve worked on before.
First, a quick clarification, you don’t patent the name of a motorcycle club. You trademark it.
The good news is yes, motorcycle clubs can absolutely obtain trademark protection for their names and branding.
There are a couple of different ways to approach it depending on how the organization operates.
If your motorcycle club functions primarily as a membership organization, you may register it as a social club or membership organization. The USPTO recognizes many different types of organizations and services, and clubs often fit within those classifications.
Another approach I’ve seen is when motorcycle clubs are involved in charitable activities.
Many clubs organize memorial rides, maintain memorial walls, host fundraising events, or support charitable causes. Those activities can often support trademark registration based on charitable or community services as well.
The important point is that the legal structure of your organization doesn’t prevent you from protecting your brand.
J.D. Houvener:
Does it matter whether the organization is a nonprofit or a for-profit business?
Matt Kulseth:
Not necessarily.
A for-profit business can certainly provide charitable services, and nonprofit organizations can also own valuable trademarks.
The USPTO isn’t deciding whether your organization is “good” or “bad.” They’re looking at how the trademark is actually being used in commerce or in connection with the services you’re providing.
J.D. Houvener:
When we filed trademarks for Bold Patents, we had to submit evidence showing how we were actually using the mark.
How does that work for an organization that isn’t selling traditional products?
Matt Kulseth:
That’s another great question.
Trademark use doesn’t always require selling physical products.
One motorcycle club I worked with maintained a memorial wall honoring riders who had passed away. Members and supporters could donate toward maintaining the memorial, and the organization prominently displayed its name in connection with those services.
For that application, we submitted website screenshots showing the charitable services, donation information, and photographs demonstrating how the trademark was used publicly.
The key is demonstrating that the public associates the name with the services your organization provides.
J.D. Houvener:
That’s a really helpful distinction.
A lot of people assume trademarks only apply to products sitting on store shelves, but organizations, charities, clubs, and service providers all build valuable brands that deserve protection.
Audience Question
“My friends and I have an invention we’d like to patent. We found an older patent application that’s been abandoned in most countries, but it still appears pending in Japan. Can we patent it?”
J.D. Houvener:
The short answer is:
Probably not.
If the invention has already been publicly disclosed through a published patent application or patent, that publication generally becomes prior art.
Even if the original inventor never commercialized it, abandoned foreign applications, or lost interest years ago, the public disclosure itself can prevent someone else from obtaining a patent on the exact same invention.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the opportunity is gone.
If you have developed meaningful improvements, something novel and non-obvious beyond what was previously disclosed, you may still have patentable subject matter.
That’s where speaking with a patent attorney can be extremely valuable.
Sometimes a seemingly small improvement creates an entirely new patent opportunity.
Matt Kulseth:
It sounds like this inventor already did quite a bit of research, which is great.
Understanding the existing patent landscape before investing significant time or money is always a smart first step.
J.D. Houvener:
Another important point from this question involves inventorship.
The person asking said, “My friends and I want to patent it.”
That’s where many inventors accidentally create legal problems.
There’s a major difference between inventorship and ownership.
Only the people who actually contributed to the conception of the claimed invention should be listed as inventors on a patent application.
Being a friend, business partner, investor, or employee doesn’t automatically make someone an inventor.
Inventorship vs. Ownership
J.D. Houvener:
If your friends are helping build a business around the invention, but they didn’t actually invent it, that doesn’t mean they belong on the patent as inventors.
Instead, the cleaner approach is to create a business entity, such as an LLC or corporation.
The inventor initially owns the patent rights and can then assign those rights to the company.
Ownership interests between founders can then be handled through operating agreements, shareholder agreements, or other business contracts.
That structure is usually much cleaner than trying to solve ownership questions by adding people as inventors who legally shouldn’t be there.
Matt Kulseth:
Exactly.
Separating inventorship from business ownership is one of the smartest things founders can do early in the process.
It protects everyone involved and creates much fewer problems if the company grows, raises investment, or eventually exits.
J.D. Houvener:
It’s one of those topics that doesn’t seem exciting at the beginning, but getting it right upfront can save enormous headaches later.
Finding the Questions Inventors Are Actually Asking
J.D. Houvener:
I recently came across a tool called AnswerThePublic, and it’s become a fun resource for discovering the kinds of questions people are searching online.
It gathers real search queries and organizes them into topics, making it a great way to see what inventors, entrepreneurs, and business owners are curious about.
As content creators, it’s also a helpful reminder that the best educational content often starts with answering real questions from real people.
So we thought we’d have a little fun.
Let’s randomly pick one of the questions and answer it on the spot.
Matt Kulseth:
I like this idea. It’s a great exercise because these are often the same questions we hear from clients every day.
Random Question
“Why is a trademark important?”
Matt Kulseth:
That’s an easy one.
I would argue that, for many businesses, a trademark registration becomes one of the most valuable legal assets the company owns.
Outside of your organizational documents, like your operating agreement or articles of incorporation, your trademark may be the document that protects the long-term value of your business.
A trademark identifies the source of your goods or services and helps prevent customer confusion in the marketplace.
It also gives you legal tools to stop others from using confusingly similar branding.
As your company grows, your trademark becomes even more valuable.
If you decide to franchise your business, license your brand, expand into new markets, or eventually sell the company, the trademark often represents a significant portion of that value.
J.D. Houvener:
That’s something many entrepreneurs overlook.
They think of a trademark simply as a logo or a business name.
In reality, it’s much bigger than that.
It’s your reputation.
It’s every positive customer interaction you’ve built over the years.
It’s everything your customers associate with your business.
Matt Kulseth:
Exactly.
When someone values a company, they’re not only looking at equipment, inventory, or cash flow.
They’re also evaluating goodwill.
That goodwill is the trust you’ve built with customers over time.
Your trademark represents that goodwill.
Even after you subtract the physical assets and liabilities, an established business can still have tremendous value because people recognize and trust the brand.
That’s why protecting it early is so important.
J.D. Houvener:
That’s a great perspective.
It’s easy to focus on patents because inventors naturally think about protecting inventions.
But trademarks often become the lasting asset that carries value long after individual products have evolved.
Bold Bite: Shark Tank Review
J.D. Houvener:
Now it’s time for one of our favorite segments, the Bold Bite.
In this segment, we analyze successful companies from an intellectual property and business strategy perspective.
Today’s company is Manscaped, featured on Shark Tank.
They came into the Tank seeking a $500,000 investment for 7% equity, valuing the business at roughly $7.1 million.
Their pitch was memorable.
It was funny, confident, and incredibly well branded.
Rather than trying to sound overly technical, they leaned into humor and embraced exactly who their audience was.
Matt Kulseth:
One thing that immediately stood out was how they described the early days of the business.
Initially, they struggled to gain traction.
Then they changed one thing, their marketing.
Instead of taking themselves too seriously, they leaned into humor.
That decision completely changed the trajectory of the company.
Their videos began attracting millions of views, and their sales accelerated dramatically.
It’s a great reminder that sometimes the product doesn’t change, the messaging does.
J.D. Houvener:
Exactly.
Marketing can completely transform a business.
The founders openly admitted they nearly shut the company down before discovering the tone and messaging that resonated with customers.
That’s something every entrepreneur should remember.
Sometimes success isn’t about changing your invention.
It’s about changing how you tell the story.
Matt Kulseth:
Kevin O’Leary, Mr. Wonderful, also raised an important point during the pitch.
He questioned whether there was anything truly proprietary about putting grooming products together into a kit.
His concern wasn’t whether customers liked the product.
His concern was whether competitors could easily copy it.
That’s a question every inventor should ask.
Do you have something that’s genuinely protectable?
Or are you competing primarily through branding, marketing, and customer experience?
J.D. Houvener:
And that’s where branding became the real differentiator.
Even if the individual products weren’t revolutionary, the company built an unforgettable identity.
People remembered the brand.
They remembered the messaging.
They remembered the humor.
That brand recognition became an incredibly valuable business asset.
Matt Kulseth:
They also built recurring customer relationships through subscriptions and product expansion.
Once customers trusted the brand, it became much easier to introduce new products under the same name.
That’s exactly what strong branding allows you to do.
Looking at Manscaped’s Trademark Strategy
Matt Kulseth:
One of the things I always enjoy doing is looking behind the scenes at how successful companies protect their intellectual property.
Manscaped is a great example.
If you search the USPTO database, you’ll find that they own numerous trademark registrations and applications, not just for the company name, but for a wide variety of products and services.
That surprises a lot of entrepreneurs.
They assume one trademark registration protects everything.
It doesn’t.
Trademark protection is organized into different classes of goods and services, and businesses often need multiple registrations as they expand into new markets.
J.D. Houvener:
That’s a great point.
People often ask why a company would file multiple trademark applications for the same brand name.
Can you explain that?
Matt Kulseth:
Absolutely.
The USPTO organizes trademarks into 45 different classes covering products and services.
A company like Manscaped isn’t just selling one product anymore.
They have grooming tools, personal care products, apparel, online retail services, and other offerings.
Each expansion may require protection in a different trademark class.
As the business grows, so does its trademark portfolio.
J.D. Houvener:
That’s something inventors and business owners should think about early.
Your first product may only be the beginning.
If your long-term vision includes expanding into additional product lines or services, your intellectual property strategy should grow with the business.
Matt Kulseth:
Exactly.
One interesting thing about reviewing trademark filings is that they can sometimes provide clues about where a company is headed next.
If you look closely at recent filings, you may discover new product categories or service offerings before they’re officially announced.
Of course, not every application turns into a product launch, but it does provide insight into a company’s long-term strategy.
For entrepreneurs entering a competitive market, monitoring competitors’ trademark activity can be a valuable way to understand how an industry is evolving.
J.D. Houvener:
That’s a great reminder that intellectual property isn’t just about protecting what you’ve already built.
It’s also about preparing for what’s next.
Whether you’re filing patents or trademarks, thinking strategically can create opportunities years down the road.
Final Thoughts
Matt Kulseth:
Today’s conversation really highlighted how broad intellectual property can be.
We covered proposed changes to patent law, trademark protection for organizations, ownership of inventions, and even how successful brands use intellectual property to strengthen their businesses.
These topics may seem unrelated at first, but they’re all connected by one idea: building and protecting long-term value.
J.D. Houvener:
Exactly.
Whether you’re creating your first invention or managing a growing company, your intellectual property strategy should evolve alongside your business.
A patent protects innovation.
A trademark protects your reputation.
Strong agreements protect ownership.
Together, they help create a stronger foundation for growth.
Matt Kulseth:
I hope everyone listening found something useful they can apply to their own business.
We’ll continue answering your questions in future episodes, so keep sending them in.
J.D. Houvener:
Thanks again for joining us for another episode of the Bold Inventor Show.
If you enjoyed today’s discussion, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes covering patents, trademarks, licensing, entrepreneurship, and everything related to intellectual property.
Until next time…
Go Big. Go Bold.