When Your Name Becomes Your Nemesis
In 2003, Michael Johnson of Las Vegas thought he'd found the perfect business strategy. He would trademark his own name — "Michael Johnson" — for use in fitness and motivational speaking, capitalizing on the fame of the Olympic sprinter without technically infringing on any existing rights.
Photo: Las Vegas, via s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com
It seemed foolproof. After all, it was his legal name. How could anyone stop him from using his own identity?
What Johnson didn't anticipate was that roughly 47,000 other Americans shared his name, and some of them had lawyers, businesses of their own, and absolutely no sense of humor about trademark disputes.
Within two years, Johnson's brilliant business plan had triggered the most chaotic trademark battle in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office history, bankrupted him personally, and created legal precedents that trademark attorneys still study today as a cautionary tale about the intersection of personal identity and intellectual property law.
Photo: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, via www.knowledgetree.com
The Trademark Application That Broke the System
Johnson's initial trademark application for "Michael Johnson" in fitness services was approved in March 2004, despite being one of the most common name combinations in America. The USPTO examiner apparently didn't consider the potential for confusion among the thousands of other Michael Johnsons pursuing various careers.
That oversight became apparent within weeks of the trademark's publication in the Official Gazette, when opposition filings began flooding the patent office.
Michael Johnson, a personal trainer in Phoenix, filed the first opposition, arguing he'd been using the name professionally longer than the Las Vegas Johnson. Michael Johnson, a gym owner in Detroit, filed second, claiming prior commercial use. A motivational speaker named Michael Johnson from Tampa filed third, submitting evidence of his established business reputation.
By summer 2004, seventeen different Michael Johnsons had filed competing claims, counter-oppositions, and federal lawsuits against each other. The USPTO had never seen anything like it.
"We had Michael Johnsons suing other Michael Johnsons for the right to be Michael Johnson," recalled patent attorney Sarah Chen, who represented three different Michael Johnsons in the dispute. "It was like a legal hall of mirrors."
The Courtroom Where Everyone Had the Same Name
The situation reached peak absurdity during a federal hearing in Nevada district court in January 2005. Judge Patricia Morrison found herself presiding over a case involving eleven different Michael Johnsons, their attorneys, and a courtroom packed with spectators trying to follow which Michael Johnson was arguing what point.
"For the record," Judge Morrison announced at the hearing's start, "I will be referring to the parties by their cities of residence, because otherwise this transcript will be unintelligible."
The Las Vegas Michael Johnson argued he had legitimate rights to trademark his own name. The Phoenix Michael Johnson countered that common names couldn't be monopolized by individuals. The Detroit Michael Johnson claimed the whole dispute was damaging his existing business. The Tampa Michael Johnson demanded damages for trademark dilution.
Meanwhile, Michael Johnsons who weren't even involved in fitness or motivational speaking began filing protective trademark applications for their names in other business categories, creating a cascade effect that crashed the USPTO's electronic filing system twice.
"It was like watching a legal avalanche," observed intellectual property professor David Schwartz. "One bad trademark decision triggered dozens of defensive filings, which triggered more oppositions, which triggered more lawsuits."
When Your Legal Strategy Becomes Your Legal Nightmare
The original Las Vegas Michael Johnson quickly discovered that trademarking a common name was like grabbing a tiger by the tail — once you start, you can't let go without getting mauled.
Every new opposition required legal response. Every counter-suit demanded discovery. Every federal court appearance cost thousands in attorney fees. Johnson had budgeted for maybe one trademark dispute; he was facing seventeen simultaneous legal battles across multiple states.
"I thought I was being clever," Johnson later admitted in a deposition. "I didn't realize I was painting a target on my back for every other Michael Johnson in America who felt like I was trying to steal their identity."
By late 2005, Johnson had spent over $340,000 in legal fees defending his trademark against other versions of himself. His motivational speaking business collapsed as potential clients became confused about which Michael Johnson they were hiring. His fitness consulting income evaporated as other Michael Johnsons claimed he was trading on their reputations.
The man who thought he'd cornered the market on his own name discovered he'd actually cornered himself into legal quicksand.
The Patent Office Learns a Hard Lesson
The Michael Johnson trademark wars exposed a fundamental flaw in how the USPTO handled personal name trademarks. The office had been approving applications for common names without considering the potential for widespread confusion among people who legitimately shared those names.
Internal USPTO documents from 2005 reveal growing panic among trademark examiners as similar disputes erupted over other common names. Applications for "John Smith," "David Williams," and "Jennifer Brown" all triggered multiple oppositions and federal lawsuits.
"We realized we'd been creating legal time bombs," admitted former USPTO director Jon Dudas in a 2010 interview. "Every time we approved a common name trademark, we were potentially setting up dozens of innocent people for expensive legal battles."
The agency quietly began rejecting personal name trademark applications unless applicants could demonstrate truly distinctive commercial use or prove they were genuinely famous in their field.
The Bankruptcy That Changed Everything
In March 2006, the original Las Vegas Michael Johnson filed for personal bankruptcy, listing over $400,000 in legal debts from his trademark battles. His business was defunct, his savings were gone, and he still faced ongoing litigation from multiple other Michael Johnsons seeking damages.
The bankruptcy filing triggered a fascinating legal question: if someone goes bankrupt partly because of trademark disputes over their own name, do they lose the right to use their legal identity commercially?
The bankruptcy court ruled that personal names, unlike business assets, couldn't be seized to satisfy credts. Johnson could keep using his name personally, but his trademark was abandoned and his commercial rights to "Michael Johnson" were effectively worthless.
"He spent nearly half a million dollars to learn that he couldn't own his own name," observed bankruptcy attorney Maria Rodriguez. "It's probably the most expensive identity crisis in legal history."
The Quiet Revolution in Trademark Law
The Michael Johnson cases led to significant but largely unpublicized changes in trademark policy. The USPTO now requires extensive evidence of distinctive commercial use before approving personal name trademarks. Applications for common names face heightened scrutiny and longer examination periods.
More importantly, the cases established legal precedent that sharing a name with someone doesn't automatically create trademark infringement, even if one person has registered that name. Courts now consider factors like geographic separation, business categories, and evidence of actual consumer confusion.
"The Michael Johnson wars taught us that names are different from other trademarks," explained intellectual property attorney Lisa Park. "You can't treat personal identity like a corporate brand."
The Man Who Sued Himself Into Obscurity
Today, the original Las Vegas Michael Johnson works as an insurance adjuster under his full legal name, Michael Robert Johnson, to avoid confusion with other Michael Johnsons in his area. He's never attempted to trademark anything since his bankruptcy.
"I learned that trying to own your own name is like trying to own the air," he reflected in a rare 2015 interview. "Just because something belongs to you doesn't mean you can stop other people from having the same thing."
Meanwhile, several of the other Michael Johnsons who opposed his trademark have thrived in their respective businesses, free from the legal entanglements that destroyed their namesake's entrepreneurial dreams.
The case remains a landmark example of how intellectual property law can create unintended consequences when it collides with the simple reality that millions of Americans share common names.
Sometimes the smartest business strategy turns out to be the dumbest legal mistake — especially when your brilliant plan involves fighting yourself for the right to be yourself.
