As many people continue to teach themselves how to be “very demure,” a surprise trademark application has sparked a frenzy over the legal rights to the viral phrase that captivated TikTok.
Jools Lebron, who has 2 million followers on TikTok, is credited for starting the online craze over the “very mindful” and “very cutesy” lingo. But two other people filed for trademarks before Lebron could, according to legal documents obtained by NBC News.
More than 173,000 TikTok posts have used the word “demure” in the last seven days, according to analytics from the platform. The trend burgeoned after Lebron went viral this month for her videos explaining how to be “very demure” at work, “very mindful” while waiting to board a plane and “very cutesy” during a night out on vacation. The phrases have been inundating social media to email inboxes as brands and celebrities hop on the trend.
Last week, a man named Jefferson Bates, who does not appear to be a TikTok creator or have any connection to Lebron, filed an application in Washington to trademark the expression, “Very Demure .. Very Mindful …”
Bates did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He is also listed as the owner of several other active trademarks, including “Lets Ride — Jefferson A. Bates,” “Broncos Country Lets Ride — Jefferson A. Bates” and “#HTTC,” according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.
An emotional Lebron shared her distress over the trademark filing in a TikTok video, saying she felt like she “dropped the ball” and “didn’t try hard enough” to capitalize on the virality with a legal claim.
Lebron did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The video has been removed from her page, but clips have recirculated on platforms such as X.
Over the weekend, a second person, Raluca Pop, said she filed a trademark for “Very Demure Very Cutesy,” another phrase affiliated with the trend, with the aim of helping Lebron by holding onto it until she could transfer it to her.
The application, which Pop filed Saturday in California, is pending alongside Bates’, according to the trademark office website.
Lebron is “the one that created it and popularized [the phrase]. Like, she should be the one to reap the benefits,” Pop, who founded the social media app Hive Social, told NBC News. “And once I saw that this other guy tried to steal it out from under her, I realized that he didn’t trademark the remainder of her phrase, ‘very cutesy.’ And that’s when I went and I did it, instead.”
In a video posted to TikTok on Sunday, Pop said she got in contact with Lebron and is transferring ownership of the trademark. She showcased in her video what the process would entail by displaying screenshots of forms she is filling out to make the transfer complete.
In the past few weeks, Lebron — who said she was working as a cashier before internet virality — partnered with brands such as Kombucha, Verizon and Lyft. She also appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week. She said the explosion of popularity around the trend enabled her to fund the rest of her gender transition, as well as help her best friend get out of a living situation that was deteriorating her mental health.
Platforms like TikTok and X have made it easier than ever for people to achieve overnight fame, whether as creators (such as Brittany Broski with her viral Kombucha moment) or through pure accident (like Alex from Target). But the sudden attention from fans and brands can be disorienting for some to adjust to.
Lebron, who is based in Chicago, said she “didn’t have the resources” to navigate her newfound fame. “I’ve just invested so much money and time into this, and I feel like I did it wrong. Like, I feel like I didn’t try hard enough,” Lebron said through tears in the now-deleted video.
On Tuesday, Lebron posted to TikTok saying that the trademark matter had been “handled” and that she now had a team behind her helping her navigate the situation.