EPISODE · Jul 3, 2024 · 45 MIN
Andrei Mincov: What You Need To Know About Trademarking
from Scouting for Growth · host Sabine VdL
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Andrei Mincov, founder and CEO of Trademark Factory, a company that specialises in trademark registration & protection. In this episode, Mincov shares his insights & experiences on the importance of trademarks for entrepreneurs and businesses, as well as the common mistakes and misconceptions people have about the trademarking process. He will also explores the role of IP in business growth & success, & the strategies &best practices for protecting & leveraging your ideas & brands. KEY TAKEAWAYS My dad was a famous composer in Russia. A radio station that stole a song he wrote & turned it into an ad for Samsung without his permission, at the time I was attending law school & he asked me for help. I didn’t know anything about IP but in 1996 nobody in Russia had any idea about IP because Russia had just changed from Soviet law into free market law, so I gave it a shot & as part of that journey I became passionate about helping people who created something to protect it from others who want to steal it from them. Trademarking is mostly the same around the world, there are small differences here & there & you need to understand them to be successful in those countries. But, this isn’t something I think entrepreneurs should care about, that’s why providers exists who can navigate them through this. What you should know are the basics, it’s not as complex as you might think: What is trademarking? What are you protecting? What do you need to show to the government to prove it's a brand & not a cute name or image? The biggest misconceptions I see with trademarks is that you don’t own the word or the image you own the mental association between that work, phrase or image & specific products & services that you sell. Why trademark? If you plan to be in business for several/many years, the brand will become the most valuable asset of your business. It makes it easier t=for you to attract better talent, attract better leads at a lower cost to advertise at lesser cost. Even if you file your trademark a day before someone else does, you’re good. The problem is you don’t know when someone else will file for a trademark, so you should do it early or else someone else will do it and you won’t be protected, even if you came up with the name first. BEST MOMENTS ‘The trademarking process takes a long time & I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs being taken advantage of by unscrupulous firms that claim to be able to trademark their brand for $49.’ ‘The success rate of your trademark application is directly related to your willingness to understand the basics.’ ‘On a general level, what trademarks protect is the brand, whether it’s the name, tagline, logo, or some combination.’ ‘Trademarks is the only type of IP that you can own, in theory, forever. Copyrights, patents, industrial right expire, if you renew your trademark every 10 years you can own it forever.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Andrei Mincov, the founder and CEO of Trademark Factory, is a renowned expert in intellectual property law. With a career that began with a fight to protect his father's music, Mincov has since written multiple books on the subject, including an international bestseller, & has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and companies protect their IP. His passion for ensuring that hardworking entrepreneurs are not taken advantage of led him to found Trademark Factory, the only firm in the world that offers trademark registration services with a guaranteed result for a guaranteed budget. When he's not helping secure trademarks, Mincov enjoys living in Dubai with his wife & 3 kids & playing his one-of-a-kind DrumDesk. YouTube Email: [email protected] ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
What this episode covers
Most founders obsess over product, funding, and growth. Very few think seriously about trademarks—until it’s too late. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Andrei Mincov, Founder and CEO of Trademark Factory, to demystify one of the most underestimated—and most expensive—blind spots in entrepreneurship: intellectual property protection. Andrei’s journey into IP law is deeply personal. When his father, a renowned composer in Russia, had his music stolen and repurposed for a global advertising campaign without permission, Andrei was still in law school. With no established IP framework in post-Soviet Russia at the time, he learned the hard way how creators can lose what they’ve built—simply because they didn’t protect it early enough. That experience shaped a lifelong mission: helping entrepreneurs defend what they create. In this conversation, Andrei breaks down what trademarks really are—and what they are not. You don’t own a word or a logo, he explains. You own the mental association between your brand and the products or services you sell. That distinction matters. A lot. One of the biggest myths he tackles head-on: “I came up with the name first, so I’m safe.” You’re not. Trademark protection isn’t about who thought of the idea first—it’s about who files first. And in a world where brand names travel globally at digital speed, waiting can cost you everything from your identity to your ability to raise capital or expand internationally. Andrei also exposes the darker side of the trademark industry: low-cost promises, misleading guarantees, and firms that prey on founders’ lack of knowledge. The trademarking process does take time. And the success rate, he argues, is directly linked to one thing: your willingness to understand the basics before delegating the rest. Why does this matter so much for growth? Because over time, your brand becomes your most valuable asset. It attracts better talent. It lowers customer acquisition costs. It builds trust with partners, investors, and customers. And unlike patents or copyrights, trademarks—if renewed—can be owned forever. For founders planning to scale, exit, or build something that lasts, trademarks aren’t a legal checkbox. They’re a strategic growth lever. 🎧 This episode is essential listening for entrepreneurs, scale-ups, and corporate innovators who want to protect their upside, avoid costly mistakes, and build brands that endure. Because in business, ideas are easy to copy. Protected brands are not.
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Andrei Mincov: What You Need To Know About Trademarking
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