Protest Home Vestors Inc. Trademarking "we buy houses"

[Aaron Mazzrillo]

I received this email today. Seems like a worthwhile protest to join. I know more than one investor who received cease and desist letters from these clowns, all because they were sending letters and/or post cards that said We Buy Houses. I don't think they should be allowed to trademark such a generic phrase. The instructions below are a bit generic. You'll need to actually read some of the stuff to figure out exactly what to enter, but it still will take you just a few minutes. Before you begin, you will also need to google We Buy Houses and search images. Save a few to a word file. Also, this does not work on my iphone. I had to wait until I got to my office to see the government web pages.

Home Vestors America Inc. Has filed for a US trademark on the phrase “We Buy Houses”…If you care to fight itso you can use “we buy houses” without paying a royalty you can follow the instructions below and protest it with the U.S. patent & trademark office (USPTO).

1. Click this link to start. This is an actual official protest form from the USPTO, not just an internet petition.

• Click Here: https://teas.uspto.gov/ccr/lop

2. Enter this serial number: 87373583 (this is the number of the “We Buy Houses” trademark we're protesting).

3.Click the light gray “Continue” button

4. On the next page check Boxes #2 & 3:

• #2 -Mark is generic.
• #2 -Mark is merely descriptive or misdescriptive, or should have an element disclaimed on that basis.

4.Click the light gray “Continue” button

5.On the next page; click the “Attach Evidence” button and upload a PDF showing other house flippers using the “we buy houses” phrase. 

Then enter the following text into the “Evidence” field…

• Then Copy & paste the below text in to the “Evidence” field

The term is too generic, there are thousands of small real estate investors who use "we buy houses" to market their business. "We buy houses" is a generic phrase describing what we do. It is not unique to HomeVestors. It would make marketing a challenging task for thousands of small business owners and create an unfair advantage for HomeVestors essentially giving them a monopoly on what we all do.

6. Click “Continue,” and from there you’ll just enter your personal info so they can officially file your protest.