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LLC C-Corp,or S-Corp? | ||
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Incorporation Essentials |
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Trademark Home |
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Learn About Trademarks |
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Run A Trademark Search |
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Register Your Trademark |
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Learn About Trademarks Before you use a name in commerce – whether it be the name of your business, the names of your products and services, or the names of your slogans – you need to find out whether anyone else is using the name or has rights to the name. What Is A Trademark? A Trademark is one of the most valuable assets of any business. A Trademark is a word, name, symbol, design, phrase or sound that identifies a business organization, or its products or services, and distinguishes it from other business organizations. In other words, a Trademark is how potential customers recognize your business and set you apart from your competitors.A Business must be extremely careful in choosing the names associated with it, as it can be exorbitantly expensive to change names midstream. As thousands of businesses have learned, the result can be devastating in terms of lost business. Why Run A Trademark Search? One of the first steps to starting your business is naming your business. One of the first steps in launching a product or service is naming the product or service. Before you use the name, YOU NEED TO KNOW IF THE NAME IS BEING USED BY SOMEONE ELSE. Finding out the hard way can have a devastating effect on your business: fines, legal liability, the lost opportunity cost of having to switch names midstream… Even if no one else is using the name in your state or geographic region, a Trademark Search will reveal if someone is using the name in any part of the country. This is important to businesses that envision expansion. Every year, thousands of business owners find out that they are practically frozen out of expanding to an area with their business or brand name, as someone in that area has Common Law Rights to that business name. A Trademark Search will reveal this scenario upfront, before time, money and effort is put into building a trade name or brand. The Trademark Search ensures that you can use the name you want to use in your business. It also ensures that your trademark registration application will not be rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). It is your responsibility to have the search done before you submit your application to the USPTO. Submitting a trademark registration application blindly risks a considerable amount of time and money. Why Register My Trademark? Registering a Trademark puts the world on notice that you are using the mark, that it is your mark, and that no one else can use it. It also generates an indisputable record of your use, which is vital in defending your rights if another business were to come along at a later date and use the mark in violation of your rights. Trademarks should be registered by businesses that use the mark in interstate commerce, or plan on using the mark in interstate commerce.Furthermore, registering a trademark will give your trade name and brand names more credibility with the public and with other business you deal with. What is the Difference Between Registered Trademarks and Common Law Trademarks? Common Law Trademark Rights: A business using a trade name in commerce may very well have Common Law Rights in that name. Basically, the only requirement is that the business was the first to use the name in that geographic area. Here, it wouldn’t matter if you registered the Trademark with the USPTO. The business that first used the name would have the right to the name, in that area. But practically speaking, you could be blocked out from using this name anywhere. Common Law Trademark rights are extremely prevalent. Several million US business have Common Law Trademark rights in their trade names. This is why running a Trademark Search is extremely important.Registered Trademarks: Registering a trademark gives the owner a presumptive right to the use of the trademark. Registering puts the world on notice that you are using the mark, that it is your mark, and that no one else can use it. It also gives your trade name and brands more credibility. How Do I Avoid Infringing On Another’s Name or Mark? To avoid infringing on another business’s name or trademark, a competent Trademark Search should be undertaken.What is the Difference Between a Trademark and Servicemark? Though we use the word “Trademark” on this site to describe Trademarks and Servicemarks, there is a distinction. A Trademark serves to distinguish goods or products from similar goods or products. A Servicemark serves to distinguish a given service provided by one business from similar services provided by another, and to distinguish the marketing or sales promotion of a business organization.What Is Required of an Owner of a Trademark? The right and obligation of a trademark owner is to take legal action against anyone who is infringing on its trademark. The owner must be consistent and thorough in asserting its rights to ownership. Furthermore, the owner of the trademark must be diligent in asserting its claims of ownership. If the owner is not consistent and diligent, the law may deem the owner to have waived such rights to ownership. What Do I Need to Know To Register My Trademark? (1) The Goods and Services you want to register in relation to your trademark: What Happens After The Application to Register a Trademark? When it is determined that your application meets the required guidelines, the application will be forwarded to an examining attorney within the USTPO. The examining attorney will determine whether the application complies with applicable regulations, and will determine whether the trademark conflicts with any other trademarks registered or pending within the USPTO records. This step could take months to complete.Next, the examining attorney might decide that the trademark should not be registered. If so, the examining attorney will contact the applicant by mail, phone, or e-mail (called “Office Action”) describing the reasons that the trademark should not be registered. The applicant must respond to the Office Action within six months of the communication, or the application will be deemed abandoned. A “Final Refusal” will be issued, if the applicant cannot overcome the examining attorney’s objections to the application. However, if the applicant overcomes all objections, OR, if no initial objections are raised, the examining attorney approves the trademark. The next step is for the trademark to be published in the Official Gazette, a publication of the USPTO. Anyone who feels that its own trademark may be damaged by registration of the trademark has thirty days to file an opposition to registration. If no opposition is filed, the USPTO will issue to the applicant a “Certificate of Registration” (for application based on use), or a “Notice of Allowance” (for application based on intent to use). From the issuance of a Notice of Allowance, the applicant will have six months to use the mark and submit a state of use, or request a six month extension. Difference Between State TM and Federal TM Federal Trademark Registration gives national protection, and puts parties on notice of the trademark across the nation. State Trademark Registration can put parties on notice on a statewide basis, and can give some protection against infringement. However, merely registering a trademark in a single state will give no protection against infringement in another state. Furthermore, if a company does not register a trademark federally, the company may find it’s precluded from expanding with the trademark to other states, where competitors are already using the mark.Design Elements In A Trademark. In most cases a trademark is simply a word, or a combination of letters and numbers. However, some trademarks include a design element, which may require a drawing to be submitted with the application. Contact one of our Trademark Consultants today to discuss your Design/Logo Trademark, 877 281 6496.
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