Understanding how to trademark a name at the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the Trademark Office, is incredibly important. Many businesses and small companies often want to trademark their name, the name of their website, URL, or the name of their company or the name of the product or service. But they immediately think, "Well, can I just trademark this name by myself?"
Understanding how to trademark a name at the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the Trademark Office, is incredibly important. Many businesses and small companies often want to trademark their name, the name of their website, URL, or the name of their company or the name of the product or service. But they immediately think, "Well, can I just trademark this name by myself?"
Not having ever trademarked a name before, they really don't understand how to trademark a name and how to register that name at the USPTO government website. Now, there are instructions at USPTO.gov under the "register a trademark" section, which can guide you through the process, so that you can better understand trademark registration and how to trademark your name at the website.
Trademark registration is incredibly important. It gives you valuable rights under trademark law, which you cannot get unless you register a name, so you want to register your trademarks if at all possible. But we understand, as trademark law attorneys, that these things cost money.
Now, I always tell clients this. For approximately $1,600, you can get a trademark clearance opinion, trademark availability, trademark opinion letter, trademark registration, all the way through completion. So, for about $1,600, you can register a trademark with USPTO that includes the approximate $300 filing fee, all attorney's fees and costs, to get through the trademark registration process.
There is virtually no other asset that you can build value on for less than $2,000, so trademark registration is incredibly cost-effective. Most law firms will take credit cards, so you could finance it over time. It, oftentimes, takes between 12 and 18 months to get through the trademark registration process, but it is a worthwhile effort and one that will deliver return on investment on your trademark asset. And I want to emphasize that. Intellectual property, including trademarks are intangible assets, meaning that you can't pick them up, touch them, feel them or throw them around. But they're intangible property, and intangible property can have asset value. Apple, for instance, 50% of their total value is in their intellectual property trademark rights. 50% of its total value as a company are its trademarks rights.
So, trademarks can be incredibly valuable. And you will see a return on investment if you register your trademark, if someone should ever value your company or look to buy your company at the end of the day.
So understanding how to trademark a name is important because if you do it wrong, your trademark will be subject to attack by third parties. So, let's say someone has registered a domain name that incorporates all or part of your trademark and is causing actual consumer confusion so that people who are looking for your company are actually ending up at the infringing website, thinking that they're doing business with you. That's a bad deal.
Any trademark law attorney will tell you that you've got good claims. But the second question a trademark attorney is going to ask you is whether or not your trademark is registered at the USPTO. If the answer to that is, "Yes, I've got my trademark registered with the USPTO," the next thing that a good trademark law attorney is going to do is to take a look at that trademark registration and ask you any number of questions to test the validity of the trademark.
So, while getting through the trademark registration process can seem relatively straightforward with all the self-help options and trademark registration forms available online through USPTO.gov, if you fill something out incorrectly, you could lose all of your trademark rights.
So, if you need to go and assert a claim of trademark infringement against that domain name owner who's stealing your customers and diverting your traffic and revenue, and you created a trademark registration which, in fact, provided false information about the first use date, or even the owner of the trademark, or a description of the products and services, or the international class in which the trademark is valid, then you'll have gone through the trademark registration process for nothing. Because your trademark will either have limited rights, or be subject to attack as being an invalid trademark.
A good trademark attorney knows how to trademark a name, a brand, a logo, a symbol, a phrase, a slogan. That attorney will be responsible for making sure that that trademarked name, logo, or slogan is done properly. There is a very good return on investment in hiring a trademark attorney to get through the trademark registration process.
Understanding how to trademark is what a lawyer who specializes in this area does every day. That's why they go to law school. That's why they join various organizations such as INTA, the International Association of Trademark Owners. So you need to be able to get through the process correctly. Spend the money, pay an attorney fee, and make sure that that attorney knows how to register your trademark correctly from the get go.
My name is trademark law and registration attorney, Enrico Schaefer. Today, we've been talking about how to trademark a name. Hope you learned something and we'll see you next time.
You have been listening to Trademark Law Radio. Whether you are facing a trademark infringement, licensing, monitoring or trademark registration issue, we have a trademark attorney ready to answer your questions.
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