sooo, fast forward to 2021 — i had managed to secure a collab with macy’s wine shop, expanded the shop ellecommawoods business to include clothing, mugs, stationery, and more, did some collabs for SECW, got brand ambassadors & ALL. needless to say, i was kinda feeling myself lol! 

at this point, the whole “ellecommawoods” thing had become wayyyyyyyy bigger than i ever intended it to be. what started as a funny , homage-type of social media handle/name had morphed into a whole bunch of other things. things that were growing.

the creator brand, the business, the opportunities. . .

& honestly, it felt like everything i’d envisioned for myself, my brand, my business, etc. was really coming together for me! at some point during all of this, i had filed a trademark application for ellecommawoods[as much as people love to joke about lawyers not following their own advice, i actually do try to practice what i post lol]. i knew that i was eventually going to change the business name once I came up with something that felt right, because it was always a “placeholder”, but i did not foresee changing the creator persona name anytime soon so I just went ahead, filed the application & kept it moving.

now, i did not expect for the application to move straight through the USPTO without any problems/objections/refusals whatsoever, but i did NOT expect what came next AT ALL.

fast forward to August 2022 — i was on vacation, just had a birthday & was minding my businesses lol. then i got an email that every creator/brand owner/business hopes to never get: a cease & desist 😭

i opened the email, confused AF. i half-thought it was misdirected or something, because surely, nobody would be coming for little ole me, right? not over my little merch/store/creator life/jokey-joke name. . .but no, unfortunately it was for me. and let’s just say that the folks behind legally blonde were not nearly as amused by "ellecommawoods" as I was🫠.

and to be clear, i'm not going to name the company, the law firm, or any of that because first of all, i don't need anybody coming after me again lol. but secondly, i'm not even trying to bash, shame, be shady or anything.at the end of the day, the  attorneys were just doing their jobs & the company thought that was the best move to protect their character/franchise. . .the attorney in me understands, the business woman in me understands too. the strategist in me even still thinks that there was a HUGE missed opportunity on the brand’s part. the human in me though? 🫠

but anywho...when i opened that email?  it was a mile-long cease & desist letter, saying that i was infringing on legally blonde trademarks — they weren't just expressing their discontent about  the trademark application or even opposing it — they were coming at me for ellecommawoods and shop ellecommawoods. in a nutshell, the letter said that if i didn't change everything, destroy all merchandise, change my social handles, websites & shut everything down, i’d be getting a summons & complaint next.

and when i say everything, i mean EVERYTHING. baby, them people attached PAGES upon PAGES of screenshots [they had been monitoring all of my social media pages, blog posts, websites, merchandise, etc], the [at that time,  abandoned] USPTO application, etc. all the things!

at first, I was SCARED.

it’s one thing to draft this kind of cease & desist, or any kind of demand letter or legal document. it’s a completely different thing to be on the receiving end and to be up against a HUGE company/brand.

my next thought was “IKFYL”, cause I thought it was some bullsh*t & i wanted to fight it lol. buttttttt. . .if i’m being completely honest, i felt singled out. because back then, there were HUNDREDS of people/creators/companies calling themselves "elle woods", "legally blonde" , etc., using quotes from the character/franchise on all types of merchandise, on blogs, in marketing, etc.

now, do i know whether any of these people/companies ever received a cease & desist or had similar conversations happening behind the scenes? maybe they did, maybe they didn't. i genuinely don't know or care lol.

what i do know is that tons of accounts, products, references, and movie-related items are still floating around online today🫠

meanwhile, there was absolutely no way anyone was confusing me, my content, my business or my merch with that character or franchise. again, "ellecommawoods" was a homage, a parody/joke, a funny nickname, a handle that  wound up as part of a brand, and eventually a business. it was never some weird, parasocial ass "omg, i want to be elle woods" thing

to be clear, i never wanted to or tried to BE elle woods — elle is literally part of the name my momma gave me at birth😂

The fact that i love pink, i wanted to be an attorney & that’s all i would talk about in undergrad, my friends started poking fun & i needed a handle one day was a part of the “joke/homage” , because it really is one hell of a coincidence lol, but that's it. 

everybody knew me as me.  the creator persona was always me. the content was always me. the brand was always me.

if you followed me back then, you already know. i was always posting food, fashion, school, life, my unpopular opinions, music, travel, random thoughts & whatever else happened to be entertaining me that week lol.

i was never roleplaying.

i was never cosplaying.

i was never trying to embody some fictional character.

and the same thing was true for shop ellecommawoods — the products had absolutely nothing to do with the character or the franchise.  i started the business because i got tired of seeing the same generic, tacky, cookie-cutter legal merch over & over again. i wanted legal merch that i actually liked, couldn't find it, so i made it myself. problem solved. . .or so i thought lol

everything was a reflection of me and the community & business i was building.

the logo was literally an animated version of ME, in a pink pant suit with my [at the time] signature high bun, my “tip the scales” necklace, my signature long ass nails, high heels & one foot on a stack of law books. Nobody was confusing me with some blonde lady from a movie🫠

anywho, once i got past the initial fear & shock, i decided wanted to fight. so i started talking to attorneys.

a lot of attorneys. and 95% of them basically told me some version of:

"welp, you’ve got no chance" or “that’s a big company/firm — i wouldn’t even try to fight🫣”

which was not the answer i wanted to hear.

it’s one thing to genuinely not think there’s a fight or think there’s a better way to go about something. it’s a whole other thing to just say “nahh, cause they’re bigger than you"

eventually, though, i found an attorney who saw things differently & thought there was a fight to be had. and for the first time, i felt like somebody actually saw where i was coming from and had some balls chutzpah lol, so i hired her.

and for a while, we fought. there was some correspondence, back and forth, legal arguments, threats, etc. and then there was me sitting around wondering whether i really wanted to keep spending my time, money, energy, and mental capacity on this bullshit lol. because while i felt strongly about my position, i also knew a few things:

i didn't have unlimited money, time, capacity, and i definitely didn't have the energy for anymore drama — as i always say “pls, i’m going through enough!” lol.

so i prayed on it, thought on it, yelled talked about it, cried about it, prayed on it some more. . .

and eventually i made a decision: instead of continuing to fight, i was going to rebrand. not because anybody forced me to, for damn sure not because i suddenly wanted to give up, but because it felt right.

i am the self-proclaimed “rebel child”, but i’m not a rebel for the sake of being one. i really just need things to make sense & i have a hard time just going along with shit i think is stupid or unfair lol

literally, i prayed on it & it was put on my spirit that this was the right decision, so i went with it. my friend joni started helping me brainstorm names.

one thing i will always give her her flowers for is that she is genuinely supportive AF. she made it clear that if i wanted to fight, she supported me & if i wanted to rebrand, she’d support me too. whatever it was, she just wanted me to make the best decision for me. i will never let her kids put her in a home lmao

we spent a few days throwing potential names around and eventually...

The CounsELLE™ was born.

and damn near overnight, i rebranded everything.

the business, socials, websites, all of it.

FYI, every bit of that rebrand came out of my own pocket. nobody cut me a check, nobody gave me a dime. i did it all on my own🫠

eventually, the other side agreed to leave me alone. i moved on, they moved on, and here we are!

lowkey, that’s one hell of a “villain origin story” 🤣🤣 Jk, kinda lol.

as frustrating, annoying, expensive & straight up traumatizing emotionally exhausting as that experience was, i can honestly say i'm grateful for it.

do i still think the situation could've & should have been handled differently? absolutely.

does the thought of that movie/franchise/firm still make my ass itch a little? also yes lol

but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't better off for it.

and honestly? so are my brands.

Anywho... if you'd like to rewatch the “rebranding story”, and see some of the screenshots, screen recordings & additional details i mentioned here, check out the YouTube video below:

🎥 Watch the video:

and if you're unfamiliar with the brand that eventually came out of all this rebranding chaos, visit the counsELLE collection®

turns out i never found the pretty, witty, obnoxiously pink legal merch i was looking for, so i kept making my own!

lastly, in the event you're currently living through your own legal horror story, business mess, brand headache, compliance nightmare, or expensive lesson in progress, that's kinda my thing now lol. i help people navigate this and more through my legal & business consulting firm,  Assistance of CounsELLE℠

xo, Elle