Trademark and Brand Owners
Trademarks include names, logos, designs, and taglines, like brands, products, services, and insignias. Virtually every company has a trademark. A trademark is an incredibly valuable asset. Your trademark creates brand recognition and distinguishes your goods and services from those of your competitors. A trademark registration is a necessary tool to protect your trademark and brand identity. Protecting your trademark can stop others from using a similar trademark, prevent competitors from passing themselves off as your business, and ensure others don’t steal your customers. The experienced lawyers at Creative Law Network are experts in trademark law. We have registered and protected countless trademarks! Check out the Legal Checklist below for a list of things to consider and ways we can help.
What Can a Lawyer do For You?
As experienced trademark lawyers, we help our clients through the entire trademark life cycle. This includes helping to choose a good trademark, governing use of the trademark, and registering the trademark, both at the state and federal level. Registration process can be long and involved, but we have the experience to guide you to the finish line. We will usher your trademark application through the entire process and provide ongoing servicing and protection of your trademark. Essentially, we are here to help protect your brand so you can grow and develop your business! Please reach out to us at Creative Law Network if you have any questions. We’re here to help!
Legal Checklist:
Your trademark can be your most valuable asset. Protecting your trademark and brand can be complicated. Making sure things are in order and done correctly can help guarantee the protection and growth of your brand. So we’ve put together this basic legal checklist for trademark and brand owners. This list isn’t exhaustive or in any particular order, but it can be a guide to keep you on your toes and help you navigate the process.
One of the most important steps trademark protection is coming up with a protectable mark! This sounds obvious, but there are so many trademarks out there that you need to ensure that your trademark will be available for use and protection. There are a number of things to consider here, including whether the trademark is already owned by a different party, and whether the trademark is eligible for registration.
Trademarks that use generic, descriptive, or geographic terms may not be protectable. You can’t protect a geographic term such as “Colorado” because it is used merely to describe a location, is widely used, and doesn’t help a consumer pinpoint the good or service associated with the trademark. You also can’t trademark a word that has a generic meaning.
Some trademarks are stronger than others. Stronger marks are generally easier to register and protect. We classify trademark as follows, based on their strength, from weakest to strongest:
Descriptive trademarks that simply describe the goods and services or their intended purpose are weak.
Suggestive trademarks that suggest some characteristics or benefits of the product or service are better.
Arbitrary trademarks that are real words but are used in unexpected ways are stronger.
Fanciful made-up trademarks with no inherent meaning are strongest.
A good trademark can’t be similar to another trademark for a similar product or service. It’s important to search for competing marks but it’s not a simple search. An experienced trademark attorney can run a comprehensive search to find out if your trademark is similar to a competing trademark.
The best protection for your trademark is federal registration. An experienced trademark attorney can prepare and manage your trademark application to give it the best chance of success. An application will include some of the following:
Identification and description of the trademark.
Identification of the goods and services with which the mark will be protected.
Assignment of the trademark into one or more classes. Trademarks are divided into specific classes that cover particular goods and services.
Proof of use of the trademark (if the trademark is in use in commerce).
Proof of use of the trademark (if the trademark is in use in commerce).
Assigning a filing bases such as whether the trademark is “in use in commerce”, “intent to use”, or a foreign filing.
Any trademark can be identified with the ™ or ℠ symbol next to it.
The ® symbol can only be used with a federally-registered trademark.
Owners of federal trademark registrations must file renewals between the 5th/6th years and 9th/10th years following the registration date, and every ten years thereafter. If no documents are filed, the registration will be abandoned.
Trademark owners must police their trademarks to prevent infringement. Failure to police improper third-party use of your mark could result in a loss of rights.
If you need any help with anything listed above, please reach out to us at Creative Law Network!