When entrepreneurs Melissa and Bobby McGivney from Groove Tonics LLC were ready to take their "smarter coffee alternative," a raw, organic cacao, nootropics, and adaptogens beverage, to market, they DIYed and applied for a trademark.
"We were crushed to receive a notice of refusal," said Melissa McGivney. "I was sharing a bit about our business through my stories on social media, when a follower reached out to tell me that she started a food product in the past and to find a college to help with our trademark issues."
The Groove Tonic entrepreneurs connected with Miami Law's Startup Clinic (formerly the Startup Practicum), where student clinicians help with new ventures in need of legal assistance. Throughout the Groove Tonic representation, students Jared Zim, J.D. '22, and Camila Gonzalez shepherded all the paperwork and filings the young startup needed.
"The first semester that we worked with Miami Law, Jared helped us submit an absolutely brilliant dispute for our case, which was ultimately won!" said Melissa McGivney. "We are currently working with Camila who filed the remaining paperwork to secure the trademark. We are absolutely elated to have officially received our trademark after initially being denied and feeling so hopeless about it."
Students in the clinic help clients with organizing, financing, talent, intellectual property, risk, regulation, and other legal issues that arise for entrepreneurs as they launch their new businesses and organizations. Students also help with client development and related activities.
"Camila, and her Startup Clinic predecessors, has done such a wonderful job assisting the McGivneys in registering their Groove Tonics trademark," said Jaime Rich Vining, co-director of Miami Law's Startup Clinic. "Camila is professional and always represents the Startup Clinic well. The experience has hopefully given her and our other clinicians some insight on working on behalf of clients before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office."
Vining is a partner with Friedland Vining in Coral Gables, where her practice focuses primarily on trademark, copyright, entertainment, and internet law.
Clinics give students hands-on, real-world experience
"While participating in the Startup Clinic, I worked on several intellectual property matters,"
Gonzalez said. "Groove Tonics, a Florida company that sells health-conscious herbal powdered drink mixes as an alternative to coffee and alcohol, was one of my clients that needed assistance drafting a Statement of Use for their goods.
"Under my professors' supervision, we filed the application in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on behalf of Groove Tonics," Gonzalez said. "The experience sparked my interest in intellectual property law. The clinic provided me with hands-on experience that helped me improve my transactional drafting skills and develop client relationships. Thanks to the real-world experience I received, I am prepared to apply such learnings in the next stage of my career."
The Startup Clinic is just one of 11 clinics under the experiential learning umbrella at Miami Law. It is one of only 26 law schools in the nation, and the only one in the state of Florida, to receive the certification for both trademarks and patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which allows Miami Law students to appear directly before the body on behalf of their clients in applications.
"Thank you to Camila, Jamie, Jared, Stacey, and everyone else who has helped us along our journey!!" said a grateful Melissa McGivney.
Read more about Miami Law's clinics
