What is a trademark?
The basic definition of a trademark is using a name or mark to signify the source of your goods or services. The purpose of the trademark is to suggest to consumers: these are the type of goods (or services) you will only find from, “Catchy Name.” If you use such a name, symbol, or slogan then you may want to consider federal registration of that mark. Registration magnifies your protection by giving you more and greater rights in your mark and by making it easier to enforce those rights.
Do you apply something distinctive to your products or services?
What about a name? A logo? A slogan? You may register any of those. You may also register less common trademarks, like: colors, scents, sounds, product configurations, titles, or even character names! Using a distinctive addition, such as a particular name or color, to indicate the goods or services come from you or your company is a vital way of setting them apart. Protect it!
How do you protect your trademark?
Being the first to use a mark or name to identify your goods or services will give you priority in that name for the types of goods and services you identified, which means that putting Catchy Name on labels of your line of beauty products and selling those products will give you the right to exclusively use Catchy Name to identify beauty products. However, your right to exclude others from using Catchy Name is limited to the geographic region in which you have sold those products. Extending the geographic reach of your trademark protection is one of the benefits of federal trademark registration.
Protection throughout the US is one benefit conferred by trademark registration with the USPTO [United States Patent and Trademark Office.] There are many others, and listed below are few of them:
- Legal presumption of your ownership of the mark: Your trademark registration is evidence of your priority in the trademark.
- Public notice of your claim of ownership: Others will be, or should be, aware of your rights to the mark due to publication of your registration or listing in the USPTO databases.
- Ability to make a federal case out of it: Without a federally registered trademark, you are not entitled to sue in federal court to enforce your rights.
- Prevent importation of infringing goods: Recordation of your registration with the US Customs and Border Protection will confer the right to keep infringing goods out of the US.
- Use of symbol: Use of the registered R symbol is only allowed for marks that are federally registered.
- Foreign Registration: You may use your US registration to facilitate registration in other countries.
If you are an individual or a business using a mark to identify the source of your goods or services, then consider registering your trademark. For more information, check out the US Patent and Trademark Office, uspto.gov. If you have questions or decide to register and would like an attorney to take care of it for you, give our office a call: 888.206.1406.
Want to get started right away?
If you would like to take the next step toward applying for registration, you may fill out the trademark questionnaire, below. Once the questionnaire is received, Elizabeth will review it and contact you to let you know the process and the fees involved.
Don’t worry, no action will be taken by our office until we have discussed the process with you and you decide to proceed.
And the consultation? It’s free!
[Please remember: we will maintain all information confidential, but due to the nature of this form, it may not be secure. If you have concerns, call instead. Filling out the form does not create an attorney/client relationship.]
