Trademarks

A trademark may be a symbol, design, or phrase legally registered to represent a company or business, distinguishing it from companies and businesses. A trademark protects the brand, and also provides legal recourse against infringement. A typical trademark includes phrases, logos, or even designs.

Obtaining trademark protection is a fairly simple matter, much different that obtaining a patent.

First matter: choose a mark (preferably one that is not very descriptive of the goods or services you are / will be selling): do a quick search on the US Patent & Trademark Office (US PTO) website to see if the mark is available (not being used by someone else for the same goods / services), which would involve a text search, and may also include a design search if your mark includes any design aspects; if there is no conflict that you uncover, start using the mark in commerce (in conjunction with sales of goods or services) and include a "TM" superscript with the mark in all instances from the very first sale / distribution. At this point you have legal rights in your trademark.

Second matter: obtaining registration of your trademark with the US PTO is not necessary in order to have legal rights, but can be very important if you have to sue a competitor for infringement because you would likely bring such a lawsuit in US Federal Court, and the judge is much more likely to grant a preliminary injunction if you have a pre-approved registration from the US PTO. This involves filing for registration based on your actual use; and when the mark is registered (typically 1 year or so) replace the "TM" superscript with "R" superscript which indicates that the mark is registered.

If your want our firm's assistance in preparing and filing a trademark application for registration with the US PTO, please contact us to get further details regarding fees, process, etc.. Note that it is possible to file for registration prior to your actual use of the trademark in commerce, called "intent to use", but ultimately the US PTO will not grant registration until you are actually using the trademark in interstate commerce, and you must pay an additional government fee.