Introduction
The process to trademark your company name can be confusing, but it’s worth it if you want to protect your business and its intellectual property. Below are the steps you’ll need to take in order to apply for trademark on your company name:
Choose a trademark.
Deciding which name to trademark is a crucial step in the process of protecting your company’s identity. You will want a name that is unique and distinctive, relevant to your business, not already trademarked by another company or individual, and not too similar to another trademark.
See if your trademark is available.
- See if your trademark is available. To do this, you’ll need to check the trademark database at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You can also conduct USPTO trademark search for existing trademarks at both the USPTO and at other locations. Make sure that your proposed name is not already in use by another business or person who has submitted a trademark application for it.
- Check if your company’s name can function as a trademark across all industries. If you’re looking to use a word or phrase in connection with multiple types of products, consider whether it could be considered generic in any one category. Generic terms generally cannot serve as trademarks unless they have acquired secondary meaning through widespread use over time and become associated with just one brand or product rather than all brands or products in that category.*
- Check if your company’s name will be protected under federal law and/or state law where you plan on doing business; some areas may not have state-level protection but will receive federal protection only instead–these include Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), American Samoa (AS), Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Marshall Islands (RMI).
Apply for a trademark online.
To apply for a trademark online, follow these steps:
- Go to the USPTO website.
- Click on the “Trademarks” link in the top navigation bar of the page.
- Look for your company name in their search engine and click on it when you find it. It will take you to a page with more information about your company name and instructions on how to apply for it as a trademark. Don’t worry if you don’t see your company name yet; this only shows up once someone else has applied for it or after 60 days have passed since no one else filed an application during that period of time (whichever comes first).
Track the progress of your application.
Once your trademark application is submitted, it may take three to six months for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to process it. During that time, you can check the status of your application by visiting http://www.uspto.gov or calling 1-800-786-9199
The USPTO will send you an email when your trademark is approved and published in their Official Gazette. Once this happens, other companies are free to use similar trademarks or product names so long as they do not cause confusion among consumers as to who owns the mark in question.
Respond to any Office Actions from the USPTO on your application.
This is to verify that you are applying for the correct mark, that there is not a conflict with another company’s registered trademark and that the mark is being used in commerce. The Office Action will also go into detail about what needs to be done to address their concerns before they approve your application. If you do not respond within 6 months of receiving the Office Action, then your application will be abandoned.
If you do not respond within 6 months of receiving an Office Action from the USPTO, then your application will be abandoned.
Get your Notice of Publication from the USPTO.
- The Notice of Publication is the first step in getting your trademark registered.
- When you submit your application, the USPTO publishes it in their Official Gazette. This means that anyone can see what kind of trademarks are currently pending or already registered with them.
- The Notice of Publication notifies other people that you have applied for a trademark and gives them an opportunity to contest it if they believe there will be confusion between their product and yours or if they think that you are applying for a trademark that violates their rights (e.g., if someone owns the name “Amazon” and someone else tries to register “Amazon” as a trademark).
This also allows you to see what kind of trademarks are already pending or registered with the USPTO so that you can avoid any possible conflicts in your own application. As part of the application process, you must provide evidence that: 1) The mark is not confusingly similar to other registered marks; and 2) The use of the mark will not cause confusion among consumers.
Registering a trademark can be costly, but it’s worth it to protect your business name and logo!
Trademark registration can be expensive. Trademarks cost $600 – $1,000 per class of goods or services to register (for example, if you have a clothing line and a handbag line, you’ll have to pay for two classes of goods).
For businesses that are just starting out, this can be a hefty price tag. But even though it may seem like an unnecessary expense at first glance, trademarking your brand name is worth it in the long run. Your company’s name has value: Think about how much money you’ve invested into building up your brand identity and logo! If someone else were able to use your name without permission, they could cause confusion among consumers and tarnish your reputation—and that would mean lost sales for you.
If possible, try not to wait until after launching your business before registering trademarks; while it might seem expensive at first glance because of the one-time fee plus renewal costs every 10 years or so (if applicable), doing so early on will save money on legal fees later on when someone tries stealing from or copying off of what’s already been established by following through with filing these documents sooner rather than later.”
Conclusion
For a small business, the cost of registering a trademark can be prohibitive. However, the value of protecting your name and logo outweighs any initial investment that you may make in legal work or payments to the USPTO. If you own a traditional brick-and-mortar store, then choosing your USPTO options carefully may help save money on advertising costs later on down the line when people are trying to find where they can buy from us online!
