How to trademark a logo

June 16th, 2014 by Thomas J Germinario

Logo trademarks can guarantee that the trademarked logo used for your business cannot be used by a competing business. A logo may include words and typographical elements, but must include graphical elements – a logo trademark cannot consist of plain text and phrases alone. As a logo always includes such stylized graphical elements, the classification for trademarking a logo will always be a stylized/design mark.

How to trademark a name

May 27th, 2014 by Thomas J Germinario

Names are very popular trademarks – trademarking a business name, for example, is commonplace. A business name trademark, however, must be unique and non-obvious. You cannot trademark a name like “Speedy Dry Cleaners” because thousands of dry cleaners already have the same name. Being descriptive of what a good dry cleaner is, it is too generic to be trademarked. Even something like “Cheetah Dry Cleaners” may be too descriptive by association to be eligible for a trademark.

Arbitrary names are often the best candidates for business name trademarking – “Apple” for a computer company, for example. Recall that a trademarked business name applies only to that product area a business operates in – thus someone might open an “Apple Dry Cleaners” business or trademark the name themselves.

How to trademark a phrase

May 13th, 2014 by Thomas J Germinario

Not all phrases need to be – or even should be – trademarked. Typically trademarks are used in places you really want to distinguish your business from another business, and have a phrase that is truly unique. “This is a great product” would not qualify for trademark protection. Also, trademarking a phrase for a limited advertisement campaign that isn’t essential to your brand identity may not be the best use of your resources. But if you plan to make the phrase an integral part of your business, a trademark will prevent competitors from co-opting that phrase or even trademarking your phrase themselves.

So make sure the phrase is unique and effective for your business plan, and determine whether you want your phrase to be trademarked with a stylized or standard character mark. A stylized mark will protect the combination of the words and graphic elements, like typography, while a standard character mark will protect the words in the phrase generally.

How to register a trademark

May 2nd, 2014 by Thomas J Germinario

Trademark registration takes place through the USPTO (The United States Patent and Trademark Office). The trademark registration process is similar to the patent process and involves a trademark search to determine whether registered trademarks disqualify your trademark idea.

An attorney is not required to register a trademark, but there are many legal deadlines in a typical trademark timeline that an experienced trademark attorney will know how to navigate, and only a registered trademark attorney can guarantee you the most comprehensive trademark search on existing marks and a trademark search analysis that can tell you the likelihood of success in pursuing a trademark application.

Note that you can get limited trademark protection (™) simply by using your mark in connection with selling goods and services through your business, but this only applies to a limited geographical and commercial scope.

To register a trademark for broader trademark protection, you must first:

  • Choose your mark and how it will be depicted. A trademark registration can be done in a stylized or standard character form. A stylized mark is a mark that contains style or design elements beyond the trademark itself, like colors, fonts and graphical elements. These elements will be protected as a whole, along with the text. A standard character mark is plain text, without formatting or design. This gives you broad trademark protection of your mark, but doesn’t protect any stylistic elements.
  • Choose the nature of goods and/or services you are selling with your mark. A mark is always specific to a certain focus like this, unless multiple trademark applications are filed.
  • Choose whether the mark is to be filed under the “intent to use” or “use in commerce” basis – basically, whether you intend to use the mark to sell the specific goods and/or services classifications you are filing under, or if you have already begun to use the mark to sell these goods and/or services.
  • Following completion of these steps, a trademark can be filed at the USPTO website at http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/teas/index.jsp

What is the difference between a trademark and a copyright?

February 20th, 2014 by Thomas J Germinario

A copyright, denoted by a © symbol, applies to original creative works such as music, movies, photographs, poems and so on, regardless of whether they are published or unpublished. Copyright protection begins from the moment of creation, and doesn’t require filing with the Copyright Office. However, filing a copyright with the Copyright Office does allow you to bring a lawsuit in the case of copyright infringement, and provides you evidence in a court of law that you do, in fact, possess rights to your copyrighted work.

A trademark doesn’t apply to authored works of creativity, but only to words, phrases, designs and symbols used for commercial purposes. Creative designs, names or slogans for marketing purposes are trademarked, not copyrighted. The trademark process is more competitive and trademarking is not automatic, and there are more restrictions on what can qualify for a trademark than for a copyright. To register a trademark, a creator or business must apply to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) demonstrating the uniqueness of their work – something an experienced trademark attorney can assist with.

What is a trademark?

February 7th, 2014 by Thomas J Germinario

Trademarks are everywhere – anytime you see TM or ® sign, this is an indication of a logo trademark, a name trademark, or a slogan trademark.

Trademarks are words, phrases, designs, symbols, or a combination of these, and are used to distinguish a business or seller of goods. Generally, a registered trademark is most useful for branding purposes. If you want to bring a visual and creative presence to your business that competitors cannot steal or infringe upon, trademark protection is your only option. Coca-Cola® is a unique, successful company because they secured trademark registration on their brand image long ago – now no one can use the trademarked name ‘Coca-Cola’ or use their distinctive trademarked logo to sell soda.

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