Frequently Asked Questions
The trademark registration process takes approximately 10-18 months. I know, I know. It’s a long process, and unfortunately, there is no way to expedite this process. Let’s be honest. A lot can happen within 10-18 months. You’d be surprised by how many people miss deadlines and don’t follow up with their application. In return, they lose their proposed mark. This is why I handhold each of my client’s trademark applications all the way to the finish line until registration is complete.
Generally, trademarks protect a word, design, slogan, symbol, or any combination of these. The purpose of a trademark is to identify your goods and services to your customers and distinguish those goods and services from your competitors’ goods and services. This is very important because you don’t own a trademark just to own it. It only protects the classes in which you register it. Making sure that I work with my clients to choose their appropriate classes is essential for the application process.
A business name trademark is what we call a standard mark. It is submitted with just the words themselves and is generic in color, shape, font, and size. This provides you with broader protection and will cover the entire spectrum of those identifiers. A design or logo trademark provides you with more narrow protection since it only protects your logo in the color, shape, size, and font that it is registered. During my initial chat with my clients, we always discuss which of their marks they should register first.
The short answer is yes if you’re a United States citizen. But I think of it this way if you were going through a divorce, facing a DUI charge or a murder trial, would you risk your life and your rights by representing yourself? The truth of the matter is that once you file a trademark application or bring a matter before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, you are involved in a legal proceeding where you must comply with the United States Code of Federal Regulations. And remember, ignorance of the law will never fly as an excuse if you mess up.
I say this with love, but you likely did not perform a search thorough enough to clear your mark. When I perform searches for my clients, I do a comprehensive clearance search. This search sifts through the federal register, state registrations, and several forms of common law use. By common law uses, I mean websites, social media, domain names, and more. I’ve been trained to thoroughly conduct these reviews to save you both time and money in the registration process.
No way! Start the trademark process as quickly as possible. You want to make sure you have some legal protection over your brand BEFORE you launch your idea. So in a perfect world, you want to launch AFTER you’ve filed your application. Once you come to me with the name you want to use, I’ll perform a comprehensive clearance search to make sure the name is available and that you have the right to use your proposed name. Only then and after then do I file your application. Imagine if you filed after you launched, without completing a search, and without clearing your mark, and then you received a cease and desist letter from someone already using the mark. It would be a re-branding nightmare!
The short answer is no. If you change your previously registered logo to something different, the protection does not extend to your new logo. You will need to file a new trademark application to have the same federal protection over the new logo. I should also mention that if you cease to use the originally registered logo, you could lose protection for it if you are no longer using the mark. Once you start acquiring various marks, we’ll discuss how to care for your trademark portfolio.
Absolutely! The trademark office allows you to obtain a trademark for ANY word, logo, or slogan used in your business. This could be your business name, a course name, a product name, a service name, a tagline, etc. Your LLC or Corporation name will not limit your brand’s ability to obtain multiple trademarks. A great example of this would be a brand like Nike Inc., who has trademarks for the name Nike, but also for their slogan “Just Do It.”
The circled R can only be used once you’ve obtained a federal registration – not upon submission of the trademark application. If you use the circle R before receiving the registration, the USPTO may decide to cancel your trademark application altogether. Instead, use the little capital letters of TM or SM before the trademark application is registered.
As soon as you decide to start a business. If you do not get help early, it could cost you more trying to fix issues later. Our goal is to help protect you, your business, your brand, and ultimately your money, as soon as possible. The sooner you seek legal guidance in your business, the better.