Native's $2M Patent Settlement

A story about how Native Deodorant had to pay $2M to a patent troll to acquire their trademark before selling their company.

"There's a great story where Moyes came on and told the Native story. When they tried to sell Native, they got in trouble during the diligence phase because they discovered they didn't have the trademark for 'Native Deodorants.'

When they tried to get it, they found out somebody else owned it - a patent troll type person in Palo Alto who owned a bunch of names like this. They tried to buy it for $20K - the troll said no. They went up to $200K - still no. The guy wanted millions of dollars because he knew their business was valuable and they couldn't change their brand name - you can't change a consumer packaged good's name without losing a lot of value.

They went back and forth negotiating, and I believe they ended up buying it for $2 million dollars. This was crucial because it's very hard to sell a company without owning your trademark - it's a giant liability. If somebody else owns the trademark and you're 6 years in, you'll have to change your name, and the more valuable you get, the bigger your exposure becomes."