Just because there are not yet specific trade laws dealing with hashtag use doesn’t mean you can’t get into a lot of trouble using them.
Maybe that intern needs a little training before being given access to your social media accounts
Starting a new business, especially a new fashion business, is far more challenging than most people realize when they begin. Even those who have done startups more than once routinely find that the process only gets more difficult as business and industry landscapes change. What worked last year may not work this year. What was true five years ago is likely to be the opposite of current conditions. How does one break out and become recognized in a crowded field that some would consider already over-saturated?
Most everyone recognizes that social media use is a critical aspect of any new business and with social media comes hashtag use. Hashtags help group the flood of information into some form of loose order so that people who are looking for a specific industry or topic can find related information without having to scroll through endless lists. For example, using the hashtag #womenswear or #springfashion might help promote your social media entry so that people looking for women’s wear or spring fashion are more likely to see it. There is an entire  genre of social marketing devoted to hashtag creation and strategy so that businesses can get the most from their social media use.
However, just as hashtag use can benefit a business, it can also cause a bit of trouble if one is not careful. Specifically, some hashtag use may fall under trademark law. Even if the use was inadvertent and not meant to cause a problem, defending your company against such a charge incurs tremendous legal expense at a point where your business really doesn’t have that kind of capital to expend.
An article posted on StartupFashion.com this week attempts to address this very gray legal area. This is another of those times when technology has moved faster than the law and there are not, at the moment, specific laws that directly spell out what hashtag use might not be acceptable. However, general trademark law still applies, even online, even if the person creating the hashtag didn’t know anything about the trademark.
Where small and startup businesses can be particularly vulnerable is when the person in charge of social media accounts doesn’t know what caution to exercise. Many use interns, recent college graduates, or even their own high school-age children to work social media because we assume they know how to navigate social media well. While that presumption may be accurate, we cannot assume they know the first thing about trademark law and how easily one can create a lot of problems.
For example: Let’s pretend a brand uses the slogan, “Bigger, Better, Bouncier” to promote their line of trampolines. Your social media person sees that slogan somewhere and decides it would make a good hashtag for promoting your new line of support bras. They start posting pictures of models wearing the bras with the hashtag #BiggerBetterBouncier and, the Internet being what it is, the hashtag suddenly takes off. Next thing you know, everyone  is associating the slogan with your new bras. Sales are going through the roof. This is a good thing, right?
Not if you own the trampoline company who had the slogan trademarked. Even though you are in an entirely different, unrelated industry, your successful use of the slogan in hashtag form could be in violation of trademark law for creating confusion within the originating market. You have effectively stolen the trampoline company’s trademarked slogan, even though your actions may have been inadvertent.
The waters here are murky and every time a new case comes up it tends to be long and complicated because there is no real precedent for judges to consider. So, how does one make sure their hashtags aren’t getting them into trouble, or inversely, leaving them vulnerable?
One good place to start is the website for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). If you’re not sure whether a phrase or slogan has been trademarked, use the search engine here to find out. Also, if you have a phrase or slogan you plan to use in marketing your products or services, getting that trademarked is probably not a bad idea. Be aware, however, that the trademark process is not especially inexpensive. Only trademark phrases and slogans you want permanently identified with your brand.
Also consider instructing the person in charge of your social media accounts to only use hashtags that are approved and apply directly to your brand. Using a regularly trending hashtag  such as #FridayFeeling or #MondayMotivation is probably safe, but a hashtag that involves a specific event, venue, or infers a different brand should probably be avoided.
Hashtag use can be an extremely powerful marketing tool not only for fashion startups but any small business, especially those with small  marketing budgets. A little care and consideration, though, can help prevent legal nightmares that might sink your new business before it even gets started.
Pretty Tough Girls
When I was in college there was a girls’ flag football league. The girls were extremely aggressive. —Lynn Swann
All girls have a tough side to them – they need it for combating the bullshit thrown at them by men
All girls are pretty and tough. I’ve never met one who wasn’t. Neither the pretty nor the tough are always visibly evident. In fact, if we see one we tend to miss the other. Men, especially those of my generation and older, can be ridiculously one-sided in how we see women and that is evident in the way we treat them. Selling a girl short, though, is a mistake. I don’t have space to list all the pretty tough girls I know, but I want to highlight four who have my attention and deserve yours as well.
Let’s start with the girl in the picture: Cynthia Schmidt. If you’ve been around here very long you already know she’s one of my favorite Indiana models. When I first met Cynthia, she was only 18, fresh out of high school, obviously athletic, and far from fitting into any stereotype anywhere. She ended up joining the Army, ultimately going into the reserves, and proving she could handle anything the guys could dish out. She came back to Indiana for a few years then moved to Las Vegas where she became a star wide receiver in what is now the Legends Football League. If you think these girls don’t play real football, you’ve got some adjusting to do. As NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann infers above, these girls come to play some serious ball and aren’t afraid to hit hard. Last week, this video of Cynthia was released. I think it sums up both the pretty and tough quite well.
I have been Facebook friends with Cathy McNeil Stein for a little over seven years now. We almost met once, but that never quite worked out. I need to make that happen, though, because Cathy is one of those pretty strong girls who shapes pretty strong girls. Having received her Juris Doctorate from Harvard about the same time as some other prominent Illinois people with whom we’re acquainted, Cathy stayed out of the harsh light of politics and focused on the courtroom. She is very strong on women’s and civil rights issues, which, if I remember correctly, is how we became acquainted in the first place. Her opinions teach me to think in directions not inherent to my stubborn brain. What has impressed me more recently, though, has been her work as Mock Trial Coach for Timothy Christian High School in Elmhurst, IL. Talk about tough! This past weekend, she led her team to what I believe is their fourth state championship! What she is doing with the young men and women at that school, as well as at North Central College where she is an adjunct professor, is shaping minds that will hopefully be instrumental in moving the entire country forward. Perhaps one of these days I’ll get up there and take a picture of her smiling face. I just hope I don’t have to get arrested to get an appointment.
Another person on my list would be Cindy Whitehead. I still have no idea why Cindy sent me a Facebook friend request back in 2012. I’m fairly certain I’m more a fan of hers than she is of mine. She rarely comes this direction and I’ve not been back to California since we became acquainted, so I don’t have any pictures that I’ve taken of her and don’t know that I’ll ever have the opportunity. I do know that when it comes to pretty tough girls, Cindy breaks the mold. She is known to most as one bad-ass skateboarder. How bad-ass, you ask? This is the girl who got up one morning and rode her skateboard on the 405; as in Interstate 405, the multi-laned major North/South thoroughfare across Southern California. Cindy is also founder of Girl Is Not A Four Letter Word, an organization that encourages, supports, and facilitates women’s involvement in extreme sports such as skateboarding and surfing. Cindy has done enough noteworthy things in the past 25 years to fill a couple of books, which might be fun to write. I think, though, to best understand why Cindy rocks, you’d best listen to her for yourself. Here she is at a TED-x forum:
I’m closing this with the pretty tough girl who means the most to me: Katherine Franson. I’ll try to avoid the gushy sentimental stuff, though that’s rather difficult. When Kat and I met three-and-a-half years ago, I thought I was reasonably healthy. Sure, there were days when the arthritis was more problematic than others, but I assumed I was doing sufficiently well for my age and absolutely horrible lifestyle. Then, within weeks of moving in together, I injured my leg and that set off a chain reaction of medical complications we’re still fighting. I have never been so thankful to have a U.S. Marine in my life as I was those first few months, though. More than once Kat has had to lift my limp body off the floor, help me down the hall, and at times even help me get dressed. Through every bit of it, she’s been the tough one, pushing for me to get the care that I need, helping me make adjustments in how I work, and minimizing the pain and depression of having to do less. When we met, she rarely wore makeup. She didn’t like it. Now, here she is about to finish school so she can do hair and makeup full time. Pretty. Tough.
As I said at the beginning, every girl is pretty and tough. These are just four examples that really stand out for me. So, when you hear some lame ass presidential candidate talk about the “woman card” or how easy women have it; or when you hear some religiously-motivated former child-actor talk about how women should follow men’s lead, remember these four examples and know that they represent the strength and beauty, determination and resolve, intelligence and capability of every girl on this planet. Do not disparage them or fail to show them any respect. They already run the world, there are just some idiots who have yet to figure that out.
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