Whether you sell goods and/or services, you want to protect your business brand by preventing others from misusing it to hurt your image. In many cases, a trademark lawyer can help you get maximum legal protection for your brand.
What Is A Trademark?
Your trade mark is your brand name for one or more goods that you sell. You can express this brand in multiple ways, including a name, symbol, words, device, or a combination of these with the purpose of identifying your good(s) separately from competitors.
If you have not registered your trademark with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), you may assert your unregistered mark as your brand by adding a superscripted “TM” to it.
However, to reduce the risk of getting into legal hot water, it’s a good idea to have a trademark attorney review your unregistered mark and have a search performed to see if there are competing claims to the mark or one similar to it.
What Is A Service Mark?
Just as a trademark is a brand for your good(s), a service mark is a brand for one or more services that you sell. If you don’t have a registered service mark with the USPTO, you may assert your unregistered service mark by adding a superscripted “SM” to it.
However, just like an unregistered trademark, you’ll probably want to have an experienced trademark attorney review your unregistered service mark to see if there are legal risks, including potential competing claims to the mark by others.
What Is A Registered Mark, Mark Renewal, and Abandonment?
If your trademark or service mark qualifies under federal law, you can apply to register it with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) for extra legal protection under U.S. law. For a registered mark, you add a superscripted “R” inside of a circle.
Why register?
A registered mark receives special protections under U.S. federal law that are unavailable to unregistered marks. For example, a registered mark creates a legal presumption nationwide that you own the mark with exclusive right to use it for the goods and/or services for which you registered it with the USPTO.
If you are building a brand for products and/or services, this is why it typically makes sense to take advantage of USPTO registration for your mark if it is eligible.
Most mark owners retain an experienced trademark lawyer to handle the application process.
This typically includes preliminary work to determine whether you should apply for registration, such as a comprehensive search of federal, state and common law marks that may conflict with the mark you want to register. This search is important because the federal database of registered marks, the USPTO Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), does not include state and common law unregistered marks that may conflict with the mark you want to register.
In addition, your trademark attorney will use the USPTO Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual to properly classify and describe the goods and/or services for which you’re seeking registration. This is very important because you want the registration to protect your brand but not be overbroad so that it inaccurately covers goods or services unrelated to what your brand is. For example, if your mark is the unique name of your restaurant chain, the description shouldn’t be so broad that it covers children’s swimwear you don’t sell in your restaurants.
To learn more about protecting your brand with the help of a trademark lawyer, go to http://mikeyounglaw.com/trademark-lawyer-registration/2/
