How to Trademark
Whether it is a unique phrase or a special logo, if you have worked hard to create a company or product with its own brand, it would only make sense that you would want to protect all of your hard work. Although a competitor may sell the same type of product as you or offer the same type of service, this does not mean that they are the same company as you. Because you want to ensure that a competitor can’t come along and steal the image you have created for your company, it is important to protect the assets that make your company unique. Fortunately, this is exactly what obtaining one or more trademarks can do for your company.
Understand What a Trademark Is (and What a Trademark Isn’t)
The term trademark often gets thrown around quite casually. However, there are many cases where the term trademark is used improperly. If you are serious about obtaining a trademark for your company, it is important that you understand what the term actually means. If you look at the definition of a trademark in legal literature, you will see that a trademark can only be a “word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs.” Therefore, if you are trying to protect a piece of music or a set of photographs, you can’t get a trademark, but you can obtain a copyright to protect your work. Likewise, if you have developed a new invention, you can’t trademark the new invention you created, but you can obtain a patent to protect your invention from being stolen by others.
Make Sure Your Trademark is Actually Unique
So, what happens if you have been using a symbol or phrase for years, and one day you decide that you want to trademark it, only to find out that someone else already has a trademark for it? If you have been using it longer than them, it may be possible for you to win the rights to that trademark, but doing so is going to end up costing you quite a bit of money in legal fees. Therefore, when you decide that you want to start using a phrase or symbol for your business, it is better to make sure no one else is using it and then trademark it right away to avoid any problems down the road.
The easiest place to search for existing trademarks is the US Patent and Trademark Office’s website . This website contains a free database of all the existing registered trademarks in the United States. Although it may be tempting to quickly scan this database and move on to the next step in the trademark registration process, since you could lose your application fee if you apply for a trademark that already exists, it’s important to do a thorough search for existing trademarks.
As you are performing your searches of existing trademarks, if you come across anything that makes you question whether or not your trademark idea is unique, there are two things to keep in mind. According to US law, there are two criteria for a trademark to be considered unique. First, the two trademarks can’t cause confusion between consumers of similar companies (example: a new microprocessor company couldn’t trademark the name In-Tell). Secondly, a new trademark can’t have a negative impact on the reputation of an existing trademark (example: a massage parlor couldn’t trademark Dell Massage Parlor).
Apply for Your Trademark
Once you have performed enough searches to determine that the symbol or phrase you want to trademark has not been trademarked by anyone else, it is time to apply for your own trademark. Depending on your relationship with the item you want to trademark, you will select one of two forms to fill out. One form is for an item that you plan to use but have not yet actually begun to use, while the other form is for an item that you have already been using and now wish to protect by obtaining a trademark. Although it seems like it would be easier to fill out the first form and then begin using the trademark once it is already protected, the US Patent and Trademark Office requires additional documentation for the first form, so in most cases, you are better off to begin using the item you wish to trademark for your business, and then apply for a trademark by using the second form.
Regardless of which form you decide to use, both can be obtained from the US Patent and Trademark Office website . You can save yourself some time and money by choosing to use the electronic forms instead of printing out paper forms. The base price for submitting a paper application is $375, while the base price for submitting an electronic application is $325. When you are filing out the form, it is very important for you to follow all of the information that is provided. If you fail to fill out the form properly, you could cause the review of your application to be delayed, or have your application denied all together.
Patiently Wait for Your Application to Be Processed
Getting a trademark is not a fast process. In many situations, it takes up to nine months for the trademark to be finalized. Therefore, it’s important to realize from the beginning that you are going to be doing a lot of waiting between the time of submitting your application and actually having your trademark approved.
To ensure that the process goes as quickly as possible, respond to any emails or letters that you receive from the US Patent and Trademark Office. Your trademark will be reviewed by a government attorney after approximately four months, and if there are any problems with your application, the attorney will notify you. Eventually, if your trademark is approved, it will be published in the Official Gazette, and you will be notified that your trademark has been approved. As long as no one opposes your trademark within thirty days of it being published, you will have a registered trademark for the next ten years.
