My Trademark Battle Continues…

by Crystal J
Soon after my father passed , I began to conceptualize the WE Take On Cancer brand. It is a platform that focuses on cancer related issues many wouldn’t think about until they or a loved one were faced with “IT,” you know CANCER! Topics range from medical, insurance coverage, social/financial support, to fertility issues, just to name a few. Before moving forward with this platform, I was afraid as I didn’t know how people would receive it. I didn’t know if people would actually care about my campaign, I didn’t know if people would support me as the world tends to focus more on entertainment, gossip, etc… As a cancer research professional, I just didn’t know!! I stepped out of my comfort zone and ultimately created wetakeoncancer.com.
 
Fast forward to the latter part of 2016, I’m told by my attorney that University of Michigan, University of Michigan was opposing my trademark application and attempting to trademark “Take On Cancer,” which is strikingly similar to my trademark. This is occurring around the same time my mom was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. After hearing about my mother’s diagnosis and the trademark application, everything seemed to just crumble. It usually takes A LOT to get me down, but all of this caused me to have mini break down. My mind was all over the place, dealing with my mom and now the trademark issue.
 
My attorney presented UM’s attorney with several alternatives to rectify the matter, but we were rejected at every turn and more recently they have resulted to ignoring emails and phone calls. Throughout this extremely difficult and unnerving process we discovered they submitted false documentation to the Patent and Trademark Office in an attempt to advance their trademark application. WE have proof they LIED and made up paperwork to note this. WE even reach out to Detroit Free Press to share my story. FreePress was INTERESTED, once they spoke to UM and was told that they would allow me to continue to use it, IF they could use it as well, the story was out the window! I don’t understand how anyone thinks it is ok for someone else to give the owner “permission” to use his or her own property.
 
A year later, hurt and devastated, my attorney and I are still battling University of Michigan. As a small company and limited resources they are trying to run me into the ground by exhausting all of my financial resources fighting them. I share a brief synopsis of my story in hopes that someone will continue to spread my story AND to let #Umich know this #JORDANGirl AIN’T going down easy!!! #TheBattleContinues #DavidAndGoliath #WETakeOnCancer vs #UMich #CancerBlogger #IP #Trademark #intellectualproperty #Rattler #Strikes

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