Jada Pinkett Smith and the Red Table Talk Trademark

If you have been on social media this past week, you more than likely saw or heard about Red Table Talk. Red Table Talk is a web television talk show starring Jada Pinkett Smith (mother), Willow Smith (daughter), and Adrienne Banfield-Norris (grandmother) that tackle current social and cultural issues with an inter-generational perspective.

This past Friday, Jada brought herself to her own table. During this episode, she explained the love entanglement (ha 😅) between her and August Alsina, a recording artist from Louisiana, as Will Smith sat across the table listening to her.

But for me, (of course), I began to think about the legal aspect of things. Not only is this an interesting topic for a family lawyer, but for an intellectual property lawyer as well.

The name “Red Table Talk” is a name that can be trademarked. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. In order to lessen customer confusion, have federal protection, and to prevent others from profiting off of your brand, one would get a trademark.

Right now, "Red Table Talk" has been on file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ever since 2018. With trademark rights, one is able to enforce these rights when one is infringing on their protected intellectual property.

Now just imagine if Jada didn’t have her brand protected. Someone could take that name and run with it and make profits off of the name “Red Table Talk”. Sell apparel and merchandise plastered with the word entanglement on it. Who knows? lol. People are creative!

Who knew that Red Table Talk would be getting so much media coverage right now?! But when that time comes for your business, you want to make sure your business and intellectual property are protected!

Until next time,

Lawyer Jas