Why do i need a trademark

Fast Online Process - File in Only Minutes! In order to make the right decision, you need to gauge where you currently are as a business against your plans. It goes without saying that the need to register a trademark is higher if you own a successful business that attends to hundreds of clients, than if you are still in the early stages of forming the company.

Trademarks provide value beyond your core business. Here, we’ll focus on trademarks for your small business.

The most valuable trademark protection is federal trademark protection. Federal trademark protection gives you a number of important benefits. Do I need a trademark to be registered to use it? You do not need to have a trademark in order to name your company, reserve a URL, or have a logo. You can operate without one, but if someone or something else is operating using the same name, you could have legal trouble down the road if you do not ask yourself the question do I need a. If someone else is using a similar mark for a similar purpose, then their use of the similar mark will limit your ability to protect yours.

A trademark has to uniquely identify your goods and services as coming from you.

Help you respond to queries. In some cases, the USPTO might return an application with an attached query or refusal. You then have the opportunity to defend the mark, providing a reason why the USPTO should approve it. Business names, product names, logos and labels can all be trademarks.

You acquire a trademark by using your mark in commerce—in other words, using it when you conduct your business. For additional protection, you can register a trademark with the U. A service mark (SM) is the same as a trademark , except it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service, such as editorial consulting, rather than a product. Filing for federal trademark protection. When applying for a trademark , expect to pay $2per class (a little more if you have an expert prepare the paperwork for you).

Processing time can take upwards of six to months with the USPTO. The process is more expensive and involved than registering a business name,. Certainly you’ve heard the term “ trademark.

However, you may not be clear how trademarking could benefit your own small business. The trademark application process is a legal proceeding governed by U. You may file a trademark application on your own, but if you want someone to help you or give you legal advice, you need to hire an experienced trademark attorney who is licensed to practice law in the United States.

So we get into the practical reasons why you should register a trademark , and there’s a lot of them. The first is it’s a great deterrent. Why you should trademark your business name If your brand name is important to you or your business, you should consider applying for a registered trademark , writes Legal Tender columnist Drew. With a trademark , you have legal recourse to sue another company that uses your likeness to further their own business ventures.

This includes both registered and unregistered trademarks. In the United States, under what common law, people can lay claim to a mark if they use it. It is not necessary to formally register a trademark. This fact and the sovereignty states have over the creation of chartered business entities and trade names, makes a trademark search imperative before one spends time and money registered a trademark.

The law provides that if a trademark owner uses the registration symbol properly, then any future defendants will be deemed to have constructive knowledge of the mark’s registration. An experienced trademark attorney can help you create accurate, appropriate descriptions that will more likely lead to acceptance. This means that even if they did not have literal knowledge of the registration,.