{
 "id": "9.11",
 "title": "Trademark and IP",
 "department": "Security, privacy and legal",
 "department_slug": "security-privacy-and-legal",
 "direction": null,
 "branded": false,
 "status": "needs-you",
 "owner": "Param",
 "last_verified": "Mon Oct 26",
 "holds": "The name, the characters, rights to generated art",
 "urls": {
  "html": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/security-privacy-and-legal/trademark-and-ip",
  "markdown": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/security-privacy-and-legal/trademark-and-ip.md",
  "json": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/security-privacy-and-legal/trademark-and-ip.json"
 },
 "other_directions": [],
 "tldr": {
  "headline": "Nothing is trademarked yet, and the public name is still open",
  "points": [
   {
    "icon": "flag",
    "text": "No trademark search or filing exists for any of the five candidate names."
   },
   {
    "icon": "people",
    "text": "Who drew the character art, and whether the LLP owns it, is not recorded."
   },
   {
    "icon": "book",
    "text": "Proposed plan: clearance search, word mark first, then the character logo, owned by the LLP."
   },
   {
    "icon": "warn",
    "text": "A viral creator's clip used as a motion reference is our riskiest use of others' work."
   },
   {
    "icon": "lock",
    "text": "We never feed a rival's picture to a model; rivals appear only labelled as theirs."
   }
  ],
  "stat": {
   "value": "0",
   "label": "marks filed"
  },
  "decide": "Search all five candidate names now, so one that cannot be protected leaves early?",
  "mood": "waiting"
 },
 "sources": [
  "brew/legal-pages.js:44",
  "brew/SCOPE.md:19",
  "brew/claims.js:87-88",
  "memory brew-name-and-scope, brand-directions-2026-10-25, brew-rival-pictures, brew-viral-remakes, brew-sloosh-finals",
  "handbook AGENTS.md Brand directions; content/company-and-strategy/decisions-log.md:25, 31"
 ],
 "open_questions": [
  "**Search before or after the pick?** Proposal: a quick search on all five names now, so a name that cannot be protected leaves the audition early.",
  "**Who made the character art so far?** Proposal: Param lists each source; anything made by a freelancer gets a signed assignment.",
  "**Keep the viral clip as a motion reference?** Proposal: keep it on the partners only until the lawyer has reviewed it.",
  "**Which entity owns the marks?** Proposal: Yellow Monk Technologies LLP."
 ],
 "parts": {
  "Answer": "No trademark is filed and the product's public name is not picked; this document settles what we must protect, the name, the character and the domains, and how rights to what the product makes are handled, with every filing waiting on Param and a trademark lawyer.",
  "Today": "| Fact | Source |\n|---|---|\n| Brew is the internal name; the public name is open | [src: memory brew-name-and-scope] [src: handbook AGENTS.md Brand directions] |\n| Five brand directions are in the final audition: Fetch the dog, Buzz the bee, Scoop the raccoon, Ocho the octopus, Seeti the cooker | [src: memory brand-directions-2026-10-25] [src: handbook content/company-and-strategy/decisions-log.md:31] |\n| The team picks one direction later | [src: handbook content/company-and-strategy/decisions-log.md:25] |\n| No trademark search, application or registration is recorded for any name | none |\n| Domains in use: joinsquareup.com and its subdomains feed, brew, demo, docs and handbook | [src: handbook AGENTS.md Where things live] |\n| The terms say the brand's content stays its own and what the service makes is the brand's to use | [src: brew/legal-pages.js:44] |\n| Make our version never gives the image model a rival's picture, only the brand's photo and a written breakdown | [src: brew/SCOPE.md:19] |\n| A rival's picture appears only labelled as theirs | [src: memory brew-rival-pictures] |\n| A viral creator's clip is sent to Sloosh as a motion reference for finals; the creator's words are never reused | [src: memory brew-viral-remakes] |\n| Writers are told never to invent claims; nothing checks a draft against others' trademarks | [src: brew/claims.js:87-88] |",
  "Tomorrow": "| Item | Version | Tag |\n|---|---|---|\n| A clearance search on the picked name before it goes public | v1 | New, proposed |\n| A trademark application for the name and the character's mark in India | v1 | New, proposed |\n| A written record of who made the character art, and an assignment to the LLP | v1 | New, proposed |\n| The matching domain bought before the name is announced | v1 | New, proposed |\n| Terms that say what the service makes is the brand's to use, with no promise it is free of others' rights | v1 | Changes, see terms |\n| Filings in the next markets the product enters | v2 | New |\n\n### Proposed plan\n\n1. **Name.** When Param picks a direction, a trademark lawyer runs a clearance search in India for the name in the classes for software, advertising services and online services; the lawyer confirms the classes.\n2. **Mark.** File the word mark first, then the character's logo once it is final.\n3. **Art.** Record for each character and logo who made it, with which tools, and have every person who made one assign their rights to Yellow Monk Technologies LLP in writing.\n4. **What the product makes.** The terms keep \"yours to use\". The lawyer checks the terms of each model vendor, Google, OpenAI, Higgsfield and Sloosh, on who owns what they make.\n5. **Others' work.** A rival's ad is a reference only. A creator's clip as a motion reference is the riskiest use we have; the lawyer reviews it before the product opens beyond the partners.",
  "How we do it": "1. Never use another brand's name, logo or pictures in our own marketing.\n2. Never put a rival's picture in a model's input.\n3. Keep a file per character with the prompts, the tool and the person who made each final picture.",
  "Numbers": "| Metric | Definition | Where measured | Status |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Marks filed | Applications filed, by country | This page | 0 |\n| Art with an assignment | Character and logo files with a signed assignment | This page | Proposed, 0 on record |",
  "Open": "1. **Search before or after the pick?** Proposal: a quick search on all five names now, so a name that cannot be protected leaves the audition early.\n2. **Who made the character art so far?** Proposal: Param lists each source; anything made by a freelancer gets a signed assignment.\n3. **Keep the viral clip as a motion reference?** Proposal: keep it on the partners only until the lawyer has reviewed it.\n4. **Which entity owns the marks?** Proposal: Yellow Monk Technologies LLP."
 }
}