A brand relies on distinctness. Distinctness only exists when something can’t be copied or stolen. A well-crafted, strong trademark application is more likely to be approved by the USPTO and to protect your brand and your investment fully. Orange County patent attorney James Yang can help you put together the strongest-possible trademark application.
What is a trademark application?
A trademark application is a filing with the USPTO that specifies the mark, the goods, and the services. An examining attorney at the USPTO will examine the application to determine whether the proposed mark can be registered with the USPTO. You must apply for a trademark in order to get one.
What are the benefits of filing a trademark application?
A trademark application’s primary benefit is that it establishes a priority date for your proposed mark. As of the filing date, your proposed mark will have priority for registration, relative to others’ applications on the same or similar marks. In other words, you put “dibs” on your trademark by completing a proper application.
You have some nationwide trademark rights as of the filing date. That means that even if you didn’t use it across the country, you can ask others to stop using a mark that may be confusingly similar to your proposed mark. Filing a trademark application provides powerful rights to prevent others from using a similar mark.
What types of trademark applications can be filed?
A trademark application can be filed for the standard character mark of your proposed mark or one that also tries to protect the design elements.
A trademark application for the standard character mark protects the words of the mark regardless of the design.
A trademark application for the design protects the words of the mark and the design.
How we help clients file their trademark applications?
Our process helps mitigate rejections at the trademark office and trademark infringement. We conduct a trademark search at the outset to determine if your trademark is likely to conflict with another’s senior registered trademark.
Also, during our consultation, we discuss your options as to:
- Ownership: Exploring ways to own your trademark.
- Crafting a goods and services description to avoid senior marks and make your trademark application more likely to be cited against junior trademark applications.
- Ways to file the trademark application.
The USPTO is the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It’s the governmental administrative agency that approves or denies every registration of trademark in the United States.
You can reach the USPTO at uspto.gov.
A trademark search is generally a search of the federal trademark database for similar marks. It determines the likelihood that you will be able to register your trademark,as well as the risk of infringing on someone else’s trademark. Learn more about conducting a trademark search.
No, you do not need to file a trademark application to use the mark. But it is beneficial to protect your brand, given that you will spend significant money to build a business around your brand.
Also, the application will help you stop others from using your mark in the future.
Even if you sell your company, your brand is an asset that increases the value of your company, and so the trademark will hold value at that stage of your business, too.
You may think that most small mom-and-pop shops at a strip mall did not register their trademark or store name. Why should you?
If your goal is to have a small business at a strip mall and that’s it, then a registered trademark is less valuable to you. However, if your goal is to expand into other locations, then the investment you put into your brand should be protected. Otherwise you could lose serious money as you move into markets where there may be similarly-marked competitors before or after you show up. Trademarking gives you a protective helmet.
No: The trademark can be owned by you personally or a corporation. There are pros and cons of owning the registration personally and owning it through the corporation.
We cover that question during the consultation. We can file the trademark application immediately if you decide to hold the registration personally. If you decide that the corporation ought to own the trademark, then we would decide on the particulars of the trademark application then wait to file the trademark application until after you’ve filed to create the corporation.
To start on your trademark, schedule a consultation with my Online Calendar
No, the consultation for a trademark application is not free. All that we discuss during the consultation will be used to prepare and file your trademark application. All of it will save you time and money and anguish, and all of it takes time and effort for me to provide.
A consultation for a trademark application generally lasts about 1 hour. In it we will:
- Conduct a trademark search;
- Discuss your options as to ownership;
- Explore whether to seek protection for the design elements or just the word mark; and
- Craft a goods-and-services description.