Draft:Josh Gerben

Josh Gerben is a trademark attorney and the founder of Gerben IP (legally Gerben Perrott, PLLC), an intellectual property law firm based in Washington, D.C. He is known as a public commentator on trademark law, and has been cited or quoted in reporting by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Reuters, among others.

Career

Gerben IP

In 2008, Gerben founded a trademark law firm. The firm, initially known as Gerben Law Firm, was later rebranded as Gerben IP. By 2017, Gerben had filed more than 6,000 trademark applications with the USPTO.

USPTO filing volume and professional recognition

The World Trademark Review (WTR 1000), an annual directory of trademark practitioners compiled through practitioner and client interviews as well as USPTO filing data, has listed Gerben in the United States and Washington, D.C. metro area annually since at least 2009. A 2017 edition noted he was the ninth-highest trademark filer nationally for 2016. A 2020 WTR 1000 entry for the Washington, D.C. metro area noted the firm filed over 1,000 trademark applications in 2019.

Media presence and trademark reporting

Gerben has developed a public profile as a commentator on trademark disputes involving major corporations, celebrities, and sports organizations. Several independent news outlets have credited him as the original source who surfaced specific trademark filings.

Technology and artificial intelligence

In January 2026, Gizmodo credited Gerben IP as the first to report on Tesla's trademark applications for the terms "Cybercar" and "Cybervehicle," filed with the USPTO, and drew on Gerben's analysis of the filings' implications for Tesla's product strategy.

In December 2025, TechCrunch reported on a countersuit filed by Elon Musk's X Corp. related to the "Twitter" trademark. TechCrunch noted that a copy of X Corp.'s legal filing was shared with the publication by Gerben IP and was not yet publicly available in the PACER federal court records system at the time of publication.

In June 2025, Fortune quoted Gerben in its reporting on a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by startup Iyo against OpenAI over OpenAI's use of the name "io," associated with a venture involving designer Jony Ive. Fortune reported Gerben's assessment that Iyo's legal case appeared strong given the phonetic similarity between the names and documented instances of consumer confusion.

Wired cited Gerben in reporting on Neuralink's trademark applications for "Telepathy" and "Telekinesis," and in subsequent coverage after the USPTO denied both applications. Forbes also cited Gerben in its coverage of the same Neuralink trademark filings. He has additionally been cited in reporting on a trademark dispute involving Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot.

In May 2018, The Wall Street Journal credited Gerben with helping surface a flood of fraudulent trademark applications being submitted to the USPTO by filers based in China, a pattern that had begun alarming U.S. officials.

Sports and entertainment

In January 2026, Front Office Sports and Bloomberg Law cited Gerben in reporting on the Las Vegas Athletics' difficulty registering "Las Vegas Athletics" as a federal trademark after the USPTO refused the mark on grounds of geographic descriptiveness. Front Office Sports quoted Gerben: "The examiner is taking this very literally. The USPTO is basically saying 'if we give the team unfettered rights, then any youth or amateur athletics association in Las Vegas could suddenly be in violation of the trademark.' It's a weird result." Reuters and Sports Business Journal also covered the story.

In April 2025, On3 reported that Gerben was the first to identify a trademark dispute between NFL quarterback Lamar Jackson and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. over rights to the numeral "8," and that Gerben's firm had contacted the outlet directly before the story had been reported elsewhere. The dispute subsequently received coverage from The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, and Sports Business Journal.

In February 2026, Reuters identified Gerben as the attorney who first reported Taylor Swift's trademark opposition to a bedding company's "Swift Home" filing, and quoted his analysis of Swift's trademark enforcement record. USA Today and House Beautiful also covered the story.

In February 2021, CNN Business credited Gerben with discovering that Quaker Oats had filed trademark applications for the name "Pearl Milling Company," revealing that the Aunt Jemima brand was being rebranded before the change was officially announced. CNN quoted Gerben: "We've been looking for it ever since they made the announcement."

In August 2019, CNN credited Gerben with discovering that The Ohio State University had filed a trademark application for the standalone word "The," a filing that attracted widespread media attention.

In June 2025, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg credited Gerben with identifying trademark filings by Donald Trump's company for mobile phone and wireless service brands.

Intellectual property and geopolitics

In March 2022, The Washington Post cited Gerben in reporting on Russia's announcement that it would permit the use of intellectual property owned by entities from countries it deemed "unfriendly" without authorization or compensation, a policy enacted in response to international sanctions following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

External links

Category:American lawyers Category:Trademark law Category:Intellectual property lawyers Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)