Hartman Global Intellectual Property Law, a group of attorneys located in Valparaiso, works with various clients to protect their intellectual property. Through their journey, they have met various amazing companies, but one really stood out to them: Mermaid Straw.
Mermaid Straw began in 2018 in the home of Lisa and Adam Harrington. Previously, Lisa and Adam were real estate agents. However, Lisa suffered from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). This chronic illness left her bedridden for more than a year, which gave her time to rethink her life goals.
“For about a year and a half, Lisa was unable to work, unable to get out of bed, unable to do things for herself. So that was kind of a really hard time for us. Lisa is very mentally strong and didn’t want to let this illness dictate her work,” said Adam Harrington.
One night, during a dream, Lisa came up with Mermaid Straw. She awoke and ran to Adam to tell him of her plan, and that same day, they created the website. They decided to create reusable straws, flatware, and drinkware. Within the first five days of creating the website, they made their first sale. After that, their business took off.
Clients aligned with Mermaid Straw’s mission: to save the Earth from being overrun by the pollution of single-use plastic. This helped their business grow, as they made sure to center it around something that was important to them.
After outgrowing multiple office spaces from growing quickly, they are now located in downtown Valparaiso on Beech Street. They have since hired multiple employees to help them with packaging, shipping, and sales.
After their rapid growth, they decided they needed to find a great trademarking firm to protect their intellectual property. For this, they turned to Hartman Global IP, working specifically with Domenica Hartman.
“My mom back in Australia is actually a trademark specialist. I’ve been ingrained growing up that you have to protect your brand, and make sure that you know you’re actively pursuing these kinds of trademarks and legal protection of the brand that you’ve created,” Adam Harrington said.
Mermaid Straw currently has about six trademarks with Hartman Global IP, ranging from U.S. trademarks to global trademarks as well. This has been a breeze for the Harringtons, as they explained working with Hartman Global IP has been great.
“They’ve got great insight into what the best routes to go for protecting the brand. She kept our budget in mind because we are a small business,” said Adam Harrington.
Although COVID-19 was a struggle for many businesses, Mermaid Straw actually saw an influx of sales during this time. Due to everyone being home and shopping online, they had a lot of sales during this time.
The biggest challenge they faced, however, was figuring out how to work from home, but they luckily had great employees that helped them through those times.
“For us, it definitely didn’t hurt our business, but at the same time, I think that as a business, you have to be able to have flexibility when things happen outside of your control. You have to have the ability to pivot and adapt to the different conditions that are happening around the world because we are a global brand that ships around the world,” Adam Harrington said.
Mermaid Straw continues to grow as a brand to this day. It has launched multiple volunteering opportunities, like beach clean-ups around Lake Michigan. The company also makes sure to donate a percentage of its sales to ocean conservation organizations.
To learn more about Mermaid Straw, visit its website at: https://mermaidstraw.com/.
To learn more about Hartman Global Intellectual Property, visit its website at: https://hartmanglobal-ip.com/.
