The #1 Mistake That Costs Black Entrepreneurs Their Brands

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
So I gotta ask you some business questions, some legal questions. I know we had Julian Brown, his episode went really viral, and one clip went really, really viral, where he said, it's a mistake to try to patent something. Because if you patent something, then it goes on the registry, and pretty much it's just open source for people to steal your ideas. Big companies could take it, they could sue you. So he advised people not to patent.
Yeah.

**Rosina** (0:28)
So let me say this. So there's four different types of intellectual property, right? So a trade secret will last as long as it's a secret. A patent only lasts for 20 years, but a trademark will last as long as you use it, you will not lose it. I'm a trademark attorney, right? And so Coca-Cola has been registered since 1893
Mercedes has been registered since 1903 So what I will tell people is, don't allow people to trick you out of your greatness and tell you that a trademark is not necessary. Now, what Julian was talking about, and I actually met Julian at Invest Fest. What he was talking about is a smart and it's a strategic move, but also what I would encourage Julian, because he said he spoke to some CEO that was, I think he was the founder or the inventor of the something, serious something, he referenced the guy in an interview. What I would say is that Julian should probably talk to someone like Mr. Lonnie Johnson. Mr. Lonnie Johnson is an inventor that works for NASA, who is a black inventor. He invented the Super Soca, and he actually won multi-million dollar lawsuits because people enfranchised on his patent. And so again, sometimes we don't understand his thought process behind it because when you do apply for a patent, all of your information is not a secret anymore, right? And so you do want to talk through to see what's your better options because I always tell people, the law is not a one size fits all garment. What may have been best for them may not be best for you, depending on the technology, you want to just talk to people and you might not have to disclose all proprietary things.
Also, I will say talk to a patent attorney who are looking out for your best interests. You know what I'm saying? I know a few of them if he needs that. But it depends. It really just depends. But as far as Mr. Lonnie Johnson, who is a black inventor who worked at NASA, who had a registered patent on the Super Soca and who has benefited, I would say that's probably somebody he would want to get his guidance from because he's been through it and been through the process. Another thing I would say is because he did talk about fighting these big companies when it comes to infringement and things like that. But what they don't tell you is there's actually intellectual property investors that will invest in your lawsuit. These are hedge fund guys and so all they do is invest in lawsuits if they feel like the probability of you win it is a big chance.
I see too many times where they try to trick us out of our greatness, tell us not to secure our intellectual property. But when you have intellectual property, when you have assets, real estate, your portfolio can be so much bigger and so much valuable. I would just say just be careful who you get your advice from and talk to people more so that they have been through it, that look more like you, because there's a lot of people out here that are trying to trick us out of our greatness.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:35)
I appreciate that. Now, you talked about being with us since day one. Congratulations to you. I don't want that to go over our heads. You said 6,000 clients. That's a lot.
That's a lot. So talk about scaling in this environment. Obviously, it's tough out here for a lot of people, but your business is scaling at a time like this. I wonder, number one, how you've gone about that, right? Because sometimes they say, don't scale too fast. The other part is, we talk about technology here all the time. Has AI been a part of that scalability? And if so, how have you been using it?

**Rosina** (4:12)
Yeah. So for me, I've been trying to use AI very responsibly. Like I'm a CEO, so I want to be smart about things. I don't want to be the CEO like blockbuster, blockbuster myself out of business, and not pay attention to what's trending and what's happening. But I do want to be conscious about it. I'm in the state of Georgia. I've been here since 2017