Who Owns the Brand You Built at Work? The "Birth Justice" Ruling

A former associate at a personal injury and medical malpractice firm developed a niche birth-injury practice within the firm — and then tried to register "Birth Justice" as her own trademark for birth-injury legal services after leaving. In a September 2026 decision, the TTAB said no: the rights stayed with the firm.

The Board's reasoning was straightforward. She built the service offering on the firm's time, with the firm's resources, under the firm's roof. The firm nurtured and facilitated the development. That made the resulting brand the firm's property, not hers — regardless of how instrumental she personally was in creating it.

Why this matters

Service businesses — law firms especially — constantly develop named programs, practice groups, and client-facing offerings. Partners and associates build them, but the question of who owns the brand rarely gets asked until someone walks out the door with it. This decision confirms that the default answer favors the employer when the work was done within the scope of employment.

How to apply it in practice

• Put IP ownership in your employment and partnership agreements. Don't rely on default rules. Spell out that trademarks, service brands, and program names developed during employment belong to the firm.

• Paper the departure. When a key employee leaves, the separation agreement should address brand and IP ownership explicitly — including any marks they might try to register later.

• If you're the employee, get it in writing before you build. A side agreement assigning you rights in something you develop is enforceable; an assumption is not.

This post is for general information only and isn't legal advice.