S4 Ep93: Why I Trademarked My Name

Trademarking your own name might sound like an act of ego. In reality, it can be an act of stewardship.In this episode, Kary Oberbrunner and intellectual property attorney Katie Rubino unpack why your name may be one of the most valuable pieces of intellectual property you own. Whether you are an entrepreneur, author, speaker, athlete, actor, artist, employee, or emerging creator, you are already building a reputation that carries recognition, trust, and economic value.You may not think of yourself as a brand, but the world increasingly does. And in the age of artificial intelligence, protecting that identity matters more than ever. AI systems are consuming human-created books, images, voices, ideas, and names at an unprecedented scale. Recent reports of AI companies purchasing physical books, removing their bindings, scanning them, and destroying them afterward reveal just how hungry these systems have become for human intellectual property.Your name is not just what people call you. It is connected to everything you create, teach, sell, endorse, and represent.In this conversation, Kary and Katie explore the difference between protecting your name and worshiping your name, why ordinary people possess far more IP than they realize, and what can happen when someone else begins profiting from the reputation you spent years building.Because protecting your name is not about believing you are better than everyone else.It is about ensuring no one else gets to become you.PROTECT your first idea FREE ► https://instantip.app/