Luckily for Sarah Palin, "smarts" is not a criterion for a trademark

Remember in law school when we learned the three characteristics any invention must have in order to be patented? It has to be novel, non-obvious and something else (it's late and I could never remember anyway... but I digress...)

Well, we learned today that IQ is definitely not a factor in seeking a trademark.

A bid by Sarah Palin and her daughter, Bristol, to trademark their names was rejected by officials today. They didn't sign their applications.

However, pundits seem to be suggesting that although there may be some other minor problems with the former vice-presidential candidate's petition, if the two women re-submit their paperwork with appropriate signatures, they apparently have a decent chance of getting their applications approved. Yeesh.

The idea apparently is to protect their respective brands as motivational speakers, although the only really specific example given seems to be that it would block Tina Fey from doing Sarah Palin impressions anymore. Good grief. Maybe if Mama Grizzly spent a little more time thinking and a little less time publicity-seeking, there wouldn't be so much to make fun of...