Q In this Discussion Board, which has two phases, you are to play the roles of 1) entrepreneur, and then 2) fashion attorney, with respect to developing a strong and effective trademark. In step 1 you are an entrepreneur. You must come up with a fashion business concept, which you must summarize briefly (1 sentence to 1 paragraph). Be as creative and wacky as you want to be. Or be boring and profitable. Up to you. Then suggest at least two possible clever trademarks for this business. Try to come up with trademarks that are catchy and that you like. Don't worry about being perfect, your lawyer is going to assist you. Your trademarks may be word marks (e.g., Nike), visual marks (e.g., the Nike swoosh), or a combination of both (e.g., Nike + the swoosh). Explain what your trademark means (if anything), and why you think it will be memorable or attractive or effective (the business case). In step 2, you are a fashion lawyer. Take off your entrepreneur hat and put on your lawyer hat. To be half-decent lawyer, it might not be a bad idea to learn some law. Re-read book chapter 2 on trademarks carefully. Focus especially on what makes a "strong" trademark. Learn also how to avoid "weak" or "generic" trademarks. You must look at the initial posts of your fellow students and decide who you want to seek to advice. You must offer to consult with at least two of them as a lawyer -- meaning, you must give them legal feedback on their proposed trademarks. Start out by analyzing their trademarks and giving them an initial legal opinion. Are their trademarks, good, bad or...ugly! Although you are free to give your business feedback on the proposed trademark, it is more important that you give your legal opinion on the strength of their proposed trademark(s). This means you will probably have to go the uspto.gov website and do a TESS search to see if there are any potential conflicts. You may wish to supplment your TESS search with a common-sense Google search. BE CAREFUL NOT TO GO TO THE USPTO.COM WEBSITE! THE CORRECT WEBSITE IS USPTO.GOV THEN CLICK ON TRADEMARKS, THEN ON TRADEMARK SEARCH, THEN DO A WORD MARK SEARCH IN THE TESS DATABASE Basically, you are looking to see if there are other similar names already taken, or if the proposed name is too generic, too geographical, or has other problems.