Ep 1 | How Trademark Protection Turned One Business Sale Into a 900% Payday, With L.A. Perkins
When one of L.A. Perkins’ clients got an offer to buy her business, L.A. asked her a simple question: does the buyer know everything you did to protect your intellectual property?
They did not. After that conversation, the client sold for 900 percent more than the first offer, because her registered trademark was an asset the buyer could actually put a value on. That story sets the tone for this episode of The Journey with Mark Astor.
Mark sits down with his friend and longtime colleague L.A. Perkins, a brand protection attorney with more than 30 years of experience and a past president of the South Palm Beach County Bar Association.
She holds an AV Preeminent rating, a distinction given to about 8 percent of U.S. attorneys, and has been named a Super Lawyer in intellectual property litigation every year since 2021. She is also the author of Why Brand Protection Matters.
The first half is a plain-language guide to intellectual property. L.A. breaks down the four areas, patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, and explains what each one protects.
She walks through why a federal trademark registration through the United States Patent and Trademark Office is the gold standard, why a comprehensive trademark search matters before you build a brand, and what a cease and desist letter really does when someone copies your name or slogan.
Mark shares his own example: his firm registered its logo and its “We Save Families” tagline after another firm appeared to copy their website.
Then the conversation turns personal. Mark and L.A. find how much they share. Both are children of entrepreneurs who never finished school, both believe in investing in yourself, and both have been touched by addiction and mental illness in their own families.
L.A. describes using Florida’s Marchman Act to get a family member into treatment for cocaine addiction and mental health struggles, and how sober living gave that person room to recover. She and Mark talk honestly about the year-long arc of recovery, the role of the Baker Act, and a suicide attempt she witnessed at 14.
They also name something the legal profession rarely says out loud. Lawyers face roughly double the risk of behavioral health problems, and Mark remembers a respected local attorney who recently died by suicide.
L.A., who chairs the Florida Bar’s mental health and wellness committee, points listeners to the Florida Lawyers Helpline, a confidential benefit offering Florida Bar members and registered paralegals five free therapy sessions a year.
It is a wide-ranging talk about protecting what you build, your business and yourself, from two people who have lived both sides of it.
Watch the full episode above to hear the 900 percent story in L.A.’s own words, along with her advice on protecting your brand and your wellbeing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the four types of intellectual property?
The four types are patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. A patent protects a novel invention, a trademark identifies the source of a business such as a logo or tagline, a copyright protects original creative work, and a trade secret protects confidential information like a formula or process.
What is a trademark, and why register it with the USPTO?
A trademark is a source identifier for a business, often a name, logo, or slogan. A federal registration through the United States Patent and Trademark Office is the gold standard, because it gives you the exclusive right to use that mark for your goods or services and the standing to stop others from copying it.
What is a cease and desist letter?
It is a letter telling another party that they are using a name or slogan you have rights to, that it is creating confusion with your brand, and that they need to stop. It usually starts a conversation, and most disputes are worked out without going to court.
How does a trademark increase the value of a business?
A registered trademark is an asset that can appear on financial statements and be valued in a sale. In this episode, L.A. shares how one client who protected and enforced her trademark sold her business for 900 percent more than the first offer.
What is the Florida Lawyers Helpline?
It is a confidential benefit that gives Florida Bar members and registered paralegals five free therapy sessions a year. The Florida Bar only knows the service is being used, not who is using it.
Transcript of the Episode
Mark Astor: Welcome to The Journey with Mark Astor. I’m your host, Mark Astor. I’ve spent a lot of years sitting across the table from people during some of the most challenging moments of their lives, as an attorney, as an advocate, and as someone who understands that the road isn’t always straight. What I’ve learned is that success, recovery, and growth rarely look the way we expect them to. There are detours, hard conversations, and moments that change everything. On this podcast, I talk with people who are willing to be honest about their journey: what worked, what didn’t, and what they wish they knew sooner.
Today I’m very excited, because I have my good friend L.A. Perkins. How are you, L.A.?
L.A. Perkins: Great, Mark. Thank you for having me.
Mark Astor: L.A. and I have known each other for a long time, and I was flattered that she wanted to come on my podcast, because we’ve just relaunched. She’s a special lady. L.A. is a former president of the South Palm Beach County Bar Association and has more than 30 years of experience. God, that makes us old, doesn’t it?
L.A. focuses her practice on counseling, litigation, and mediation in the area of intellectual property law. She’s a brand protection attorney and strategist who is passionate about helping business owners identify, protect, and enforce their intellectual property rights so they can increase the value of their business and avoid costly mistakes.
L.A. has represented clients in a broad range of matters, including but not limited to trademark registrations, copyright registrations, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, patent infringement, trade secret counseling and disputes, unfair competition, computer fraud, promotion and marketing disputes, and employment matters. She’s represented everyone from individuals up to and including Fortune 100 companies.
In addition to litigating cases in Florida, L.A. has litigated cases in California, Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin. Wow. In 2021, and every year since, L.A. was recognized by Super Lawyers as a Super Lawyer in the area of intellectual property litigation. She serves as the past president of the South Palm Beach County Bar Association and served for more than 12 years on its board of directors. In 2018, L.A. received the President’s Award from the president of the South Palm Beach County Bar Association for her ongoing dedication and commitment to the bar association.
She’s also received, and this is pretty rare, an AV Preeminent rating from the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. It indicates the highest level of skill, integrity, and professional conduct, and it’s only awarded to 8 percent of all United States attorneys. Wow, that’s pretty impressive, L.A. I didn’t know all that about you.
L.A. Perkins: Thank you.
Mark Astor: I’ve got some catching up to do. But maybe we can go back to the beginning, because my recollection is that you did not grow up in the US. Am I right about that?
L.A. Perkins: I was born in South Africa, and I moved to the United States with my parents and my brother when I was seven years old.
Mark Astor: Okay, so you came way before me. And somehow I’ve also lost my accent, because you don’t sound…
L.A. Perkins: Oh, you’ve got yours.
Mark Astor: A little bit. I always tell people it’s like my hair. It’s there, but it’s definitely going.
L.A. Perkins: I intentionally lost mine, because when you’re seven, you want to sound like all the other kids and not be different. So it was intentional.
Mark Astor: Yeah. So maybe we could start at the beginning. Talk about what an intellectual property lawyer does, because I’m sure people don’t know. Maybe start there.
L.A. Perkins: Intellectual property covers four areas: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Those are intangible assets of a business, and they’re very important. Very high level, a patent is a novel invention. A trademark is a source identifier for a business, and it’s often a logo, a unique name, or a tagline. A copyright is something original that’s created, often in the literary arena, but it can take a lot of different forms too. And a trade secret, a really great example is the Coca-Cola formula. If you’ve ever been to Atlanta, there’s a big vault where they keep the Coca-Cola formula. The idea with a trade secret is that you have to make sure people only know the information on a need-to-know basis, and there are agreements in place.
Mark Astor: So if I’ve got a business, let’s say I’ve invented something, what’s the reason to protect it?
L.A. Perkins: If you’ve invented something, then you want to be the only one who can use it for a certain period of time and have exclusivity in the market relating to it. There’s financial benefit to having a patent and stopping others. If somebody wanted that invention, they’d have to buy it through you.
Mark Astor: So I know you did some intellectual property work for us. I think we protected the logo, and we also protected some language on the front of our website that says “We Save Families.” I was concerned because there was another law firm out there who appeared to be stealing stuff off the website and basically copying what we were doing. I wanted to protect, for lack of a better word, the sweat equity that me and my wife have put into this firm for the last 10 years, so that people didn’t come along and steal it.
L.A. Perkins: What you’re talking about, Mark, and this is very important, is different from an invention in the context you just mentioned. We’re talking about trademark protection. The gold standard is getting a federal registration through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. That means you are the only company providing those types of goods or services that can use that logo or slogan relating to those services. Big picture, it’s really important to protect it, because then you’re able to stop others.
Part of the process we often go through before a company protects a mark is doing what’s called a comprehensive trademark search. That’s an important step, because it lets companies know if there’s the same or a similar mark already registered or in use, where they could be accused of trademark infringement. A company that’s worked so hard to build what it’s built could actually have all of its profits disgorged, meaning they’d have to turn over all of their profits to the entity that actually had the registered name.
Mark Astor: So let’s say the other law firm that appears to be copying us went ahead and took the language from our website that says “We Save Families” and put it on their website. How do I address that? Obviously that’s part of our mission statement. It’s right there on the front page of the website. “We Save Families” is what we do, which is a bit of a different message than just “I represent clients, I’m an attorney.”
L.A. Perkins: You’re in the best position once you have a registered trademark. At that point you have the ability, at any time, to send what’s called a cease and desist letter to someone who is using the same name or slogan. It would say something like, “I have rights to this. I’ve been using it for a long time. I’ve noticed that you’re new on the scene and you’re using the same slogan, and it’s creating confusion with my brand. I need you to stop.” And that starts the conversation. Often we’re able to work things out in various ways, and worst-case scenario, you end up litigating the situation.
Mark Astor: So in theory, if they decided to use that protected language, I could sue them and potentially get damages, because it affects my business. Now potentially they’re representing themselves to clients as if they’re us.
L.A. Perkins: Yes. If they’re in the same space as you, Mark, doing the same type of legal services, the answer is yes. The argument would be that they are diverting traffic away from your website and your business to them, riding on your coattails.
Mark Astor: So if somebody came along and decided they wanted to buy the law firm, and I’m sitting here looking up at the sky right now hoping that happens, is there some value to having the logo and the language on the front page of the website protected?
L.A. Perkins: That’s a great question, Mark, and the short answer and the big answer is absolutely yes. There’s an advantage. I love to share this example. I have a client who protected her trademark and got a trademark registration through the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and then policed her mark. She made sure that anyone using anything similar, or anything that could be confused, she stopped. She sent cease and desist letters.
When it came time for her to sell her business, somebody approached her and she got an offer. She called me and said, “This is what’s going on.” And I said, “Do they know everything that you’ve done to protect your intellectual property?” She said, “No.” We had a conversation, and she ended up selling her business for 900 percent more than the initial offer, because the value was noted relative to the intellectual property.
Mark Astor: Wow. So it does make a big difference.
L.A. Perkins: It does. I certainly can’t guarantee 900 percent more, but yes, because intellectual property is an asset that can go on financial statements and be valued.
Mark Astor: Okay. So let’s go back a little bit in time. I’d like to know, what made you decide to go to law school?
L.A. Perkins: I took a class when I was in high school called Street Law, and I loved that class. The teacher who taught it decided she was going to set up a mock trial team that would compete locally with the other high schools. I tried out for the mock trial team and I was one of the people chosen. We ended up winning for our area. We then won for the state of Florida, and we went to Washington, D.C. to represent the state of Florida nationally. That experience nailed it in for me that I really wanted to go to law school. I was in my junior year of high school, and I knew that’s where I was going.
Mark Astor: What kind of work did your parents do?
L.A. Perkins: My dad was an entrepreneur. When we came from South Africa, he started a business. His business was Italian tiles and carpeting here in the United States, and my mom helped him with marketing. I certainly learned a lot. I was very observant. I loved going to my dad’s office on the weekend and listening to how he would pitch and sell. I’ve always been very curious. My entrepreneurial journey, Mark, started when I was a teenager, and I was listening a lot earlier than that.
Mark Astor: I think that’s so interesting that you share that, because my dad was an entrepreneur too. My dad left school at 14, my mother at 16. They were not educated people. My father was in retail electronics when I was a kid growing up. As far back as I can remember, I always went to work with my dad. He insisted: school’s out, you get a job. The weekend’s coming along, you’d better have a Saturday job. I didn’t realize how much I’d learned from him, watching him in business over the years, until he was gone. There were times I wanted to tap into his knowledge base, and I’d remember, “Oh yeah, I remember him telling me about that.” So I think it’s so interesting that we shared a similar path in that way.
L.A. Perkins: And my dad also didn’t finish high school. At 16 he started his business. My parents met on a blind date, and my father and mother joke about it. My mother knew she was getting set up with my dad, and she went dressed in her Sunday best to a friend’s house. My father looked at her and said she must come from a stinking rich family. My father had been tinkering with his car and he was in his overalls, covered in grease, and my mother looked at him and said that if he cared that little to come dressed for a blind date, he must come from a stinking rich family. The irony was they didn’t have two nickels to rub together between the two of them. They had nothing. My father’s father was a tailor, and my mother’s father was a barber. They didn’t come from money.
Life in South Africa was very different. My parents gave all of that up to come to what we call the land of opportunity, so it was a big shock to go from life in South Africa to the United States.
Mark Astor: Do you think your dad especially was passionate about the American dream? Did he believe in all that?
L.A. Perkins: Oh, 100 percent. We came to the United States for the American dream. He was the epitome of that.
Mark Astor: Yeah, my dad was very much the same. Everything my father ever had, he had because he worked hard and he built businesses. Some worked, some didn’t, some made money. Especially toward the end of his life, they didn’t make money. He lost money. So I watched the ups and downs. But my dad, probably like your dad, was a big believer in the American dream. His philosophy was that if you work really hard, you can be rewarded for it. But if you’re going to sit on your ass and complain about your shitty life, then that’s where you’re going to stay. It’s not up to anybody else to save you. It’s up to you. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take care of people who aren’t able to function and work, obviously we should, especially our veterans. But he was a big believer in working hard and taking care of your family. That’s what he used to say to me. That’s what a man does: he gets up every day, goes to work, helps people, puts food on the table for his family, and pays his taxes. That’s what you should be doing. I always remembered that, and I’ve carried that philosophy into building the law firm. So I’m glad we share that. It’s funny, because we’ve known each other all these years and I did not know that about you.
L.A. Perkins: We share that in common. Those ideals and values were ingrained in me early on, just by observing.
Mark Astor: I know that you’re an entrepreneurial lawyer, a bit like me. You had a bit of a journey to get to your own law firm. Maybe share a little about that, if you would.
L.A. Perkins: I’ve always been entrepreneurial, always had that mindset. It was just a matter of when the right time was. Early on in my practice, I wanted to get the necessary experience so I’d have the confidence to open my own firm. It was just a matter of when the time would be right. I started my firm in 2012, after being a partner in two different law firms. I got some big-law experience and really great training, so the time was right for me.
It’s interesting. My grandmother had passed away and she left me, I think it was about $30,000, as a grandchild. I got $30,000, and I thought…
Mark Astor: That sounds like it was a lot of money back then. You thought you won the lottery?
L.A. Perkins: I didn’t think I won the lottery, but I thought, you know what, I’m going to use this money to invest in myself and set up a business. And that’s exactly what I did.
Mark Astor: I love that. That’s a great story. Back in 2004, after I’d gone through a divorce, one of the things I really wanted to do was go back to school and get a master’s. And I did. I took money out of my savings and paid for another year of school. I moved up to D.C. and invested in myself, because I knew it would help. I didn’t realize at the time how much it would help. But I think it’s important to invest in yourself.
L.A. Perkins: I think it’s very important, and ongoingly important. That’s a value, to keep improving. There’s always more to learn.
Mark Astor: And evolve.
L.A. Perkins: Exactly.
Mark Astor: Let’s switch gears for a second, because this is something I really wanted to talk to you about, given the work that we do. I think I shared with you that 11 months into opening the firm, which was actually February of 2016, I lost my dad. Within two days I had a family member who got sucked into Florida’s mental health system. I also had one of my closest friends who had a sister disappear for several days on a drug binge, a brother-in-law who hung himself after being addicted to pain pills, and a sister-in-law who died of an overdose. I know you had shared a little bit about your family’s journey with that. Unless you really want to name the individual, maybe we could talk a little about that, because I know you have such an appreciation for what we do, and again, that’s something I learned about you not that long ago.
L.A. Perkins: I’m happy to talk about it. I think it’s a really important topic for us to discuss. There’s a tremendous mental health and drug crisis in the United States, and it has absolutely touched my life. I’ve had several family members affected, but one in particular that I was very close to. This family member had a drug issue with cocaine and also had mental health issues. I was able to get this family member help by using the Marchman Act, which I know is near and dear to your heart and something you work on with people. I really believe that the tough love related to using that act saved her life, so I’m really glad it existed. I’m happy to share.
Mark Astor: I’ll let you take the lead on who it was and the details, but I know there’d also been a bit of a history with the Baker Act with that individual.
L.A. Perkins: Yes. That person called the authorities on herself several times, which was actually quite courageous, and I really acknowledge her for that. Addiction is a hard thing to beat. The statistics are just tough. That’s where she needed some extra help. She ended up going from the hospital, where she was in a psych unit, to a halfway house where she was able to engage in an outpatient treatment center. I don’t remember exactly how long she was in the halfway house, but I think it was six to nine months, an extended period of time.
Mark Astor: One of the things we tell families is that the typical recovery journey is about a year, and a significant portion of that is the whole sober-living experience. It’s so important for somebody who’s been suffering for a long time to be in an environment, once they get out of treatment, that’s nurturing and supportive, where you can be around other people who are also working on their recovery. I think that’s huge.
L.A. Perkins: 100 percent, Mark. That was actually what motivated me to use the Marchman Act. I knew if she returned to where she was living, which was with her significant other at the time, it was very likely she would just go back to using. She needed to be removed from that environment, to your point, and be around people who were focused on helping themselves and moving on.
Mark Astor: Yeah. So my understanding is that with this particular individual, there was a suicide attempt.
L.A. Perkins: Yes, there was a suicide attempt, and I was actually there at the time. Thankfully I was able to intervene and call 911, and she was able to be saved. She was going to take her life using pills, chasing a whole bunch of pills with alcohol. What I understand is that she was actually dead on arrival at the hospital and her stomach needed to be pumped.
Mark Astor: How old were you when that happened?
L.A. Perkins: I was 14.
Mark Astor: That had to be scary.
L.A. Perkins: Very much. I’ve always had angels in my life, people I could call on who have been there to support me when I needed it. That was certainly a very challenging time. I’m grateful for all the support I got to work through the trauma of that.
Mark Astor: One of the things I think people don’t realize, especially when they know you’re a lawyer, is that there’s always the idea: you’re a lawyer, you must be fine, you’re making plenty of money, everything’s okay. I don’t know if you know this, but there was a local attorney here, Steven Graham, who was an acquaintance of mine and part of the South Palm Beach County Bar. For folks who don’t know, Steve was a really good guy, a family man, and he ran the South Palm Beach County Bar small law firm lunches and dinners. I used to see him in the gym. I always remembered Steven because he was always the sharpest-dressed guy in the room. His suit was never unbuttoned. He was just an immaculate-looking guy. And then I found out a couple of weeks ago that he’d taken his own life. I’m still in shock, because he was such a positive energy and just a good person. I think people don’t realize that as lawyers, they say the legal profession is twice as likely to develop any kind of behavioral health issue. Because we’re trained as problem solvers, we try to solve this problem ourselves, and we can’t.
L.A. Perkins: 100 percent. Unfortunately, we’re in a profession with some very high risks around alcohol and mental health issues. I want to share, because I’m very passionate about this topic, that the Florida Bar has an amazing benefit that not many people are aware of. If you’re a member of the Florida Bar or a registered paralegal, you get five free therapy sessions a year, and it’s a service provided by a third party. The Florida Bar never knows about it and doesn’t get any information about it.
Mark Astor: What’s the name of that organization, L.A.?
L.A. Perkins: It’s called the Florida Lawyers Helpline. If anybody just Googles “Florida Lawyers Helpline,” the page will come up. I’m actually the current chair of the Florida Bar’s mental health and wellness committee, and one of our missions is really to spread the word about this wonderful benefit, and that it is totally confidential. We only know that the service is getting used, not who is using it.
Mark Astor: Yeah, I’m so glad you said that. It’s interesting, over the years we’ve put a couple of lawyers into treatment. We’ve also represented a number of lawyers who had family members affected. We recently represented a judge, not from Palm Beach County, and I’ve had calls from judges in other states. We had a call from the family of a federal judge. I think people don’t realize it affects our profession tremendously.
L.A. Perkins: It does. In fact, we’re looking right now at secondary trauma issues, depending on the practice area you’re in. There’s stress from the practice itself, but then people, a lot of times in family law and personal injury, are exposed to some really horrific things, and that impacts us.
Mark Astor: I know when I was a prosecutor, especially when I was high up in the food chain and prosecuting some really serious violent individuals, especially a murder case, it can traumatize you. There’s no question about it. When you’re doing that kind of work, you have to care about what you do, and it’s hard not to absorb it. So I appreciate you sharing that. You’ve triggered some thoughts in my mind that I’m going to share with you when we get done here, because that’s become a bit of a passion of mine. We did some work with Florida Lawyers Mutual, the insurance company that works with the Florida Bar, trying to help lawyers get help. And listen, there are a lot of doctors in my family. The medical profession also has these issues, where there’s just pressure. But you’re right about the Florida Bar, and I have to tip my hat to them, because my understanding is that if you’re a lawyer and you have a behavioral health issue and you go to them and ask for help, they will bend over backwards to help you. Of course, if you don’t ask for help and you end up taking even a nickel out of your trust account, they’re going to tell you to mail your Bar card back. You’re done. You’re out of the game for probably at least five years. I’ve seen that happen too.
Anyway, with the time we have left, because we have a few minutes, I know that you wrote a book. You’re an author too, and I want to talk about that. Tell us about your book, because it’s on Amazon and my understanding is it’s selling like hotcakes.
L.A. Perkins: Yeah, thank you. So I did write a book. My book is Why Brand Protection Matters. It came out almost two years ago. About three years ago, I was sitting in my office and I had just completed a call with a potential new client, and I was noticing that people were making the same mistakes over and over. I thought, oh, if I could just hit replay. That really was the foundation of what made me decide to write a book on these topics, to help people avoid these mistakes. That’s what I embarked on, and I’m so glad I did, because my mission is that a million people read the book, that I help at least a million business owners. That’s what I’m very passionate about, educating people so they can be successful.
Mark Astor: How long did it take to write a book, L.A.?
L.A. Perkins: I actually met this wonderful woman, Ashley Mansour, who was a writing coach. I had met her many years prior, and I thought, when I’m ready, I’m going to reach out and find her. She’s out in California. She was my writing coach and she had a program. She said, if you follow the program, in 90 days you’ll have a book. Within 90 days I had a rough draft, and then I’d say from the time I started writing the book to the time it was published was about a year. It goes through different types of editors, and that’s a bit of a time-intensive process, but I’m so happy I did it. As I’ve mentioned to you, I highly recommend that anyone in any profession who can write a book about what they do put it out there on the internet. It really has helped the growth of the business from a search engine optimization standpoint.
Mark Astor: Yeah. And they can find that on Amazon, is that right?
L.A. Perkins: It’s on Amazon. It’s on Barnes & Noble. It’s on a number of other platforms as well.
Mark Astor: So if nothing else, go and buy L.A.’s book, because it’s really good stuff. And I’m not just a fan, I’m also a client, just so we’re clear. I’m a client, and I know you were incredibly helpful to us. Before we go, if there’s anybody who wants to find out about your services, how do they find you?
L.A. Perkins: The website is brandprotection.law, or they can call the office at 561-467-4001. There’s a contact link on my website as well, so they can submit any inquiry that way.
Mark Astor: I have one quick question. If somebody’s in, say, California or New York, can they still hire you to file?
L.A. Perkins: Yes. With regard to brand protection, I represent companies all over the country, and I even represent companies outside of the United States looking to do business in the United States.
Mark Astor: So that’s important. I wish I could tell you we do the same. Most of our clients are not here, but we need their loved ones here so we have jurisdiction over them. So that’s a beautiful thing. For the folks who want to find out about what we do, because our mission is to save families whose loved ones are suffering from substance use, mental health disorders, and failed attempts at recovery, you can find us on the web. Our main website is mentalhealthaddictionlawfirm.com. That’s mentalhealthaddictionlawfirm.com. We’re also here in South Florida, like L.A. The main number to the office is 561-419-6095. And if somehow you can’t find either of those things or the number, just Google me. I’m like L.A., I’m omnipresent. I’m all over the internet.
Thank you for joining me. I feel like I’ve learned more about you now than I have in all these other years. So thank you for sharing not just your entrepreneurial journey, but that very personal story you shared with the audience. I’m very grateful to you.
L.A. Perkins: Thank you, Mark. Thank you for having me. I love your mission and the work that you do, and thank you for all the work you’re doing to make a difference with families.
Mark Astor: With that said, folks, thanks for tuning in.
