99. Are Trademarks Dead?

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Are Trademarks Dead?

AI tools have made it easier than ever to build, create, and scale, but they’ve also made it harder to protect what you build. In this episode of Run Your Private Practice with AI, I’m getting into something I’ve genuinely been wrestling with: what happens when anything can be replicated with a quick deep research session and a vibe coding tool?

I’ll walk you through exactly what I did when I didn’t want to pay $39 for an app, how it spiraled into a real question about trademarks, intellectual property, and integrity in the age of AI, and where I’ve landed on all of it.

AI Tips You Don’t Want to Miss:

  • How vibe coding tools like Manus can build a fully customized app in under 10 minutes.
  • What “deep research” in AI actually pulls together and why that raises real IP questions.
  • How to use the 100 Side Hustles for Therapists freebie with your brand guide to generate personalized income ideas.

Mentioned in this episode:
100 side hustleshttps://kymtolson.kartra.com/page/opt-in-100-side-hustles
AI for therapists https://kymtolson.kartra.com/page/AI-Tools-for-Therapists
Manus: https://manus.im/invitation/KQM69QAMNAOQGH8

Connect with me:

Sponsored by Alma: www.helloalma.com/kym
Sponsored by Berries:www.heyberries.com/therapists
Sponsored by Auralink Pro: Start your free trial and use code KYMTOLSON for 20% off www.auralink.com/pro

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Run Your Private Practice with AI. So let me catch you up on what I’ve been doing. So I turned 50, which is just crazy to me. I can’t even believe I’m 50 years old. Um, and essentially, I’ve been celebrating for, like, three weeks, I guess. Um, I had a bunch of people fly in for my birthday, like girlfriends and stuff.

[00:00:21] And then my mom and her friend were down in the Dominican Republic, so I went down there for about a week. Um, all this while running my practice and my business remotely from anywhere in the world, which is an amazing thing I’m able to do, and really, using AI allows me to be able to do that. So while my girlfriends were here visiting, one of my girlfriends was like, “Hey, have you ever tried the 75 Hard?

[00:00:45] Have you ever heard of that before?” And I’m like, “No, I haven’t heard of that.” And of course, m- mind you, we’d been drinking, like, champagne and, you know, just celebrating. I was just in a all-inclusive resort with just bad food and more champagne and alcohol. So, you know, I was, like, feeling kinda gross after this point.

[00:01:03] It’s like, “Okay, enough is enough. I gotta get back on track.” Anyway, uh, when she was here, I was talking to her, and she’s like, “Have you ever tried 75 Hard?” And I was like, “No, I’ve never heard of it.” So she’s telling me about it. It’s basically, like, 75 days you do this. It’s not even really a program. It’s just more like, um, like goals that you’re supposed to hit every day, and I’ll tell you a little bit about it.

[00:01:21] It’s basically you do two workouts a day, 45 minutes each. One has to be outside, rain or shine. The other one, you know, could be whatever kinda workout you want. You have to follow some sort of a diet, which is fine. I always kinda loosely follow Weight Watchers anyway. I have, like, my entire life. Um, you have to read 10 pages out of an actual book, which I never do.

[00:01:42] I- I’m always on, listening to an audiobook and, you know, like, multitasking, walking, doing something while I’m listening. So I went to the library and got a book. You have to drink a gallon of water a day, which is, like, feels absolutely impossible to me, so I kinda altered it a little bit. You’re not supposed to do this, but I did.

[00:01:58] Um, drinking half gallon of water and at least one protein drink a day to get all my protein goals in. Oh, and the last thing you have to do is just take a progress photo of yourself every day for 75 days. Now, I don’t know how this is gonna go, right? ‘Cause I’ve got another trip coming up, of course. You guys know I’m always just wherever, traveling.

[00:02:15] That’s gonna be like 14 days of traveling. I don’t know how successful I’ll be with this. Um, and then I have two surgeries I have to have, but that’s a whole other thing. Um, so who knows? But I’m doing it right now. Now, I’m telling you all this to say I’ve really been struggling with something with AI, and that is this idea of, like, our intellectual property is no longer a thing really.

[00:02:39] I mean, copywriting and all that, yes, you can still, like, trademark things, and you can still have your, like, signature framework and all of that stuff. But any time you put anything out on the internet- like I have done. Literally everything I do, I make a reel about it, I do educational content about it, I might make like a lead magnet about it.

[00:02:55] And everybody does this. All… Anybody that’s scaling or trying to get out of the one-to-one, anybody that’s like trying to get into coaching or digital products or anything like that, you’ve got to have free products out there to attract people to Your email list or however you’re gonna, like, sell products to people.

[00:03:12] It’s just, that’s how you do it. So really, if you search me, you could search me for days and find, like, probably 20 years of content, ’cause I really started putting content out in, like, 2008. You would find a ton of stuff about me and you’d be able to, like, patchwork it all together, and you probably could just do all of my pro- you could probably recreate my programs just by using my content.

[00:03:33] So there becomes this huge question in the world of AI, like, what do we do about that? For example, in the Thera AI Hub, I have a content copywriter that I put together. This content copywriter basically consults, I think it’s 22, 22 of the top copywriters in the world. Their style, the way they teach. You know, basically it pulls from, like, YouTube videos and free content they put out there.

[00:04:01] It compiles it all into the skill that I made. Also a GPT that I made with the same idea, the same principle about it, but it’s their idea. So I’ll, like, say, “Hey, I need an email about this,” and it’ll take the skill that I created, and you guys in TheraAI Hub, I know you’re using it ’cause people are emailing me about it every day.

[00:04:18] You take that skill and you say, “I wanna write like this,” and it literally consults all 22, like, of the top copywriters in the world and says, “You know what? For this particular thing, I think the best copywriter style we should use is so-and-so.” And it’ll write it in their style, their recommendations, how they think you should do it, that sort of thing.

[00:04:39] And it’s written. It’s like a perfect email in their style. So is that copywriting? Yes? No? It’s free. It’s out there to the public. This is a huge debate. In fact, I don’t know if you guys follow Amy Porterfield at all, but I followed her for a very long time and used her, emulated her, like, you know, style, personality, that sort of things.

[00:05:00] I love her. She’s got… She’s a great person, um, and really has an excellent brand. Multi-millionaire, of course, that sort of thing. But even she did a training recently that basically taught you how to use AI to go to your favorite creator’s website or your favorite creator’s, like, lead magnet and use AI to copy it, emulate it, reproduce it, and put it out as your own.

[00:05:22] So even she is doing that. We’re all doing it. Um, every… I’m in, like, a thousand AI groups, you guys know that, and newsletters, and that sort of thing. Every single one of these people is recreating, like, skills and content based on other people’s skills and content. And of course, the idea is, like, you know, “Okay, I, I’m gonna give them credit.”

[00:05:41] Yep. “Oh, yeah, this was written in so-and-so’s style.” But it gets, starts to get so blurry, it’s like, “Who? I don’t even know who, who wrote this? Whose content is this? I have no idea. Is this, are these my thoughts? Are these their thoughts?” It all becomes super blurry, so I’ve really just been struggling with that concept and also the concept that people are doing this with my content knowingly.

[00:06:01] Like, I see, I actually see people, like, putting things out, you know, based on a lesson I taught in the Clinical AI Club or, um, you know, something I created in TheraAI Hub that now they have created an AI product to teach other therapists how to use AI. So it’s like this, like, like, circular system that’s happening, and I don’t care, right?

[00:06:21] I’m like, “Please, everybody, put content out to help everybody else.” I really don’t care at this point because I see the writing on the wall. Like, this is the future. Like, we don’t have… I don’t even know how to explain it really. I mean, it’s like we, we… Not that we don’t have the right to, like, protect our content, but it’s impossible Now is, is how I’m seeing it.

[00:06:41] So I’ve shifted my mind. In fact, somebody in the Clinical AI Club, and I still haven’t written them back ’cause I get a lot of emails, but I need to write her back. She emailed me, and I think I might have mentioned this last week too, she was like, “Kim, you need to protect these GPTs and these skills. You can’t just give this stuff away.

[00:06:57] Like, why aren’t you password protecting all of these?” And I started out in the beginning, I did have passwords on everything. And then of course, every day I’m getting emails like, “What’s the password to this?” Even though it’s like, in, in the content. It’s like, “Here’s the password if you’re in the Thera AI Hub.”

[00:07:10] And you know, I started to think about it and I’m like, you know, I’m just… It’s too exhausting to try to protect that stuff, and I’m basically just gonna have to hope people give me credit, or people share my work with others that has helped them. You know, I’m just gonna have to hope that most people will do that and, and just continue to put good content out there to help others.

[00:07:31] And also, hopefully still be able to make a living on my original ideas or content that I’m putting out there into the world. That’s all I can hope for, and that’s where I am right now with this whole thing. With all that being said, I am a hypocrite in a way a little bit. I mean, you guys let me know what you think about this.

[00:07:47] So back to the 75 Hard thing. So I’m like, that’s cool. I mean, I feel like I need a detox, like after just three weeks of basically like birthday celebrations, bad food, and alcohol. Um, I need to detox. I wanna get back on track. 75 Hard sounds great for me. My boyfriend’s already… Like, he already works out that much, and he s- like, doesn’t drink, he’s super healthy.

[00:08:07] He doesn’t eat any bad food . He has a goal to like, have 12% body fat, which is amazing. Um, so he’s super fit already, so it’s not like I’m gonna be tempted at home or anything like that. So I’m like, “Okay, I’m gonna do 75 Hard.” So I go over, I’m reading about the program and how it works and everything. I go to the App Store.

[00:08:23] The guy has an app. I went over, um… Let me give you his name ’cause I want to give you credit for him. I want to give him credit based on what I’m saying right here. Uh, let’s see. It, it… The app is in the App Store. Okay. The guy’s name that created it is Andy Frisella. He’s an entrepreneur who built multiple companies- From zero to nine figures.

[00:08:45] He launched a, he launched the program in 2019, and since then, hundreds of thousands of people have completed it. Okay. There is an app that he created in the App Store. You go over to the App Store, and it gives you a little rundown of the program. It’s essentially a checklist app, but it also, like, summarizes the program and why each of these components has worked into it.

[00:09:04] It gives you tips on how to stay strong and complete the program and that sort of thing based on his experience. So I went over there, and I’m going through. I’m like, “This is so cool.” And it’s… Of course, they’re always, like, free app, but in-app purchases, right? So I’m going through, and it’s like, you know, click on the first day, complete the first day.

[00:09:20] The key to the program is if you miss a day, you have to start back over at the beginning of the 75 days. And this app, like, tracks. If you don’t do it one day, like all the components, it resets, and you have to start over. So that’s like the gamification of it. So anyway, so I’m looking at this app, and then I click through to day two, and it’s like, oh, paywall.

[00:09:39] You have to pay $39 for it. I think it’s… I think it was even thir- yeah, it was $39 annually, and I was like, “Oh, I’m not doing that.” I don’t wanna pay for this. So what do I do? This is the part I’m talking about. So I go over to Manus. You guys know Manus is my vibe coding platform that I love. I’ve tried all of them.

[00:09:58] Base44, Lovable, Greta, Claude. Um, I’m sure there’s others in there that I’ve tried, but I really just always go back to Manus ’cause I know it. I’m paying for an annual subscription. It works well, that sort of thing. So I go over, and I’m like, “Hey, can you do deep research on this, like, 75 Hard program and, you know, mindset tips and strategies to, to, to stay strong with it, the science behind the whole thing?”

[00:10:21] That sort of thing. So Manus goes out, does its thing in, like, five minutes. And then what do I do? I say, “Okay, vibe coding.” You guys know I love to vibe code. I love to just talk back and forth to Manus and make these really cool apps. So I’m like, “Oh, can you turn this into an app for me, a tracking app, so I can just do this every day?”

[00:10:38] Of course, it said yes. 10 minutes later, I have a vibe-coded app of the 75 Hard program that is exactly, almost exactly, like the one on the App Store, although mine’s better because it’s totally customized to me. So Manus already knows, right? It knows that I’m gluten-free because I have celiac disease. It knows that I shouldn’t eat dairy.

[00:10:59] Um, it knows that I do Weight Watchers, so it already knows, like, my diet and how I like to exercise. So it coded this perfect app that tracks every day. It does the same thing. It’s based on the program, except for it’s better than the app this guy has in the App Store because it’s giving mindset tips.

[00:11:18] It’s like saying, “Hey, Kim, remember,” blah, blah, blah, and it’s g- it’s, like, personalized to me. Um, and it’s completely free. I can use it every day. It’s based on this guy’s intellectual property, right? This Anthony Frizzella. So if you guys don’t know me, like, I feel guilty about everything. I live in like this guilt complex, like I can’t tell a lie kind of thing.

[00:11:39] So, you know, I’ve using this app for a couple of days, and I’m like, “This is so good. It’s so much better.” But then I start to feel guilty, right? I’m like, “Okay, I’m stealing this guy’s intellectual property. I’m using it to make my life better. This guy deserves credit.” So one, I’m talking about it here, and I’m giving him credit.

[00:11:55] There is an app in the App Store for him. Two, what did I do? I’m using my app. I went over to his app and basically paid for an annual subscription, which is only $39. I’m not even using the app, but I felt like I just needed to give this guy the money for it, right? So that’s, that’s who I am. I don’t know.

[00:12:14] It’s, it’s a guilt complex or something, but it also feels like the right thing to do, and it’s like the do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So i- you know, in, in doing that and saying that, I’m like, I hope that people that are using my content in Theraai AI Hub and the Clinical AI Club, I hope they’re just giving me shout-outs.

[00:12:32] You know, just give me a shout-out on Facebook, that sort of thing. That’s all I feel like we can expect, like integrity and, um, you know, just others in the world now if… With- in the world of AI, where nothing is sacred anymore, everything is replicatable. Is that a word? You can repeat anything. You can do anybody’s workflow very easily with a little deep research, a little knowledge of vibe coding.

[00:12:56] Um, you could create a whole course on somebody else’s content instantly just having like ChatGPT or Perplexity, you know, is really my go-to search engine. Perplexity doing a deep research on something, somebody’s content, somebody’s social media strategy. You can so easily do that now. Nothing’s sacred.

[00:13:16] Nothing’s copyrighted. There’s nothing… There’s… I mean, it is, but it’s not, right? You could just call it your own. Somebody could say, “That kind of looks like my framework.” You rename it, call it your framework. That’s the world we’re living in now. It’s… So, you know, just I’m putting this all out there to say, like, one, you can do what I did.

[00:13:32] You can vibe code these ideas or concepts from other people. You can turn them into skills, like I have with the TheraAI Hub. That’s not the only one I’ve used people’s frameworks for because it comes up in deep research. Um, you know, like the, the, the marketing, the marketing skill I’ve put in there or the, the social media skills I’ve put in.

[00:13:51] All of those are based on other people’s, like, successful frameworks aggregated from a million people on the internet that have been successful for different reasons, pulls it all together, makes it into an expert skill. Everyone’s doing this. It’s everywhere. Even, like, when you get into ChatGPT or Claude or something like that, they’re starting to show up with their own skills that are like experts on different types of things.

[00:14:14] I just saw Claude launch Um, what do they call it? Like, a financial skill set basically that you click over to it, and there’s a stockbroker, there’s a, a COO, uh, skill that they’ve got. There were all these skills in there that are just, like, not specific to us, but all… Download the skill, upload your brand guide that we do in the TheraAI Hub or your brand expertise document that you’ve created over time to these skills, and it’s an expert on you and the skill.

[00:14:44] Like, nothing’s sacred anymore, so I don’t know. It’s, it’s weird. It’s a tough place to be. So I guess I’m saying, like, you can do this, too. You could, you could become me if you wanted to with enough Google searches and deep research with Perplexity. You could replicate my courses easily if you wanted to.

[00:15:03] Um, if you do, give me credit. Give this Andi Frizzella guy credit for something that you’re duplicating. Pay people for their intellectual property. Um, tag them in places. Like, you know, I guess that’s what I’m saying, and I’m also saying, like, it’s just… That world is over, I feel like, of trademarks and copyrighting and all that.

[00:15:25] If you think I’m crazy, let me know, of course. Always you can message me, email me. I got a couple last week on the last week’s episode, and people were like, you know, just upset with m- my, uh, take on AI and how it’s disrupting the job world and that sort of thing. One person said, “It’s not really AI doing it.

[00:15:43] It’s humans using AI that are doing it,” and I agree with that, and I also… I mean, it’s, it’s AI, too. I mean, it, it’s so easy to use and implement this that it’s disrupting all of our careers, um, you know, all industries, that sort of thing. And again, I said this last week, I’m writing a book. It’s already written.

[00:16:01] It’s in publishing. I just did the final, like, edits. The publisher next stage is, like, cover art and formatting the book to, like, make it look like a book and all that stuff. So I’m excited about that. Of course, you guys are gonna hear me talk more about that when it comes out. Um, but anyway, so that’s my take this week with AI.

[00:16:17] You know, maybe not just running your private practice, but all the things that go into it. If you’re creating side hustles, um, yeah, y- it’s gonna be used by other people. That’s the reality of what’s happening right now. And by the way, I have a really cool freebie that I created. I’m gonna put it down in the show notes.

[00:16:35] It’s 100 side hustles for therapists. It comes with 100 ideas, but also each idea has a prompt that goes with it that you can, um- You know, put into ChatGPT or Claude or whatever and with your brand guide or your personality or whatever you have, your website, give it your website with the prompt, and it’s gonna be able to create these really cool side hustles for you, and that’s free.

[00:16:59] Um, and then, you know, of course, it puts you into a nurture sequence. A lot of you guys wonder how I do these funnels and stuff. It puts you into a nurture sequence that then tells you, like, more steps on how to create side hustles to be successful, like I am with all of the 15 income streams that I have.

[00:17:14] So anyway, I hope y’all have a great week. I’ll see you next week and, uh, yeah, let me know your thoughts on this. I don’t know. Am I off base? I feel like I’m not. I feel like this is the reality that we’re living in now. Okay, talk to you later. Bye-bye.