How Difficult Is It To Register A Trademark

You are not required to register your trademark with the pto but this type of registration provides certain advantages.

How difficult is it to register a trademark. It s rather difficult to limit your territory in the days of the internet and easy transportation. This involves registering a single word as a trademark with the u s. The federal government runs a centralized trademark registration department through the united states patent and trademark office pto. Register your mark with the federal government. Even if your application issues to registration third parties still have another five years to petition for cancellation based upon their priority.

Registering a trademark for a company name is pretty straightforward. The simplest way to register. A state registration is pretty good but what happens when you border another state and the guy just over the way starts using your product name for a similar product. Color marks are slightly more difficult to be registered since there is a need to submit substantial proof of acquired distinctiveness as well as the logo rendered in color. Even if you never file a federal trademark application you can still claim rights to the marks and intellectual property your business uses.

Many businesses can file an application online in less than 90 minutes without a lawyer s help. You may not know about problems until the examiner in the u s. Where the words on their own are difficult to register as a trademark registration can often be achieved by combining these words with distinctive words or symbols to make what is known as a composite mark. As long as you were the first to use the mark in commerce you technically have trademark rights. But these automatic common law trademark rights are geographically limited and difficult to enforce.

You will however find it difficult to enforce them without a federal trademark registration. Gives legal presumption of ownership in an infringement lawsuit you must prove you own. There should also be a color claim naming the colors featured in the trademark and where the said colors appear in the overall design of the mark. The trademark website has a database where you can enter search terms to discover the correct class and acceptable identification of goods and services. In the united states trademark rights begin when the trademark is put into commercial use.

Trademarks give exclusive rights to a person or company to use a specific mark within an industry. You will need to be able to fit your products into one or more of the standard uspto classes. A trademark is a word phrase sign symbol or logo used to identify a product s owner. That means as soon as you begin advertising your product with your logo your logo is technically trademarked in the eyes of the law. Again a national trademark would definitely make your life easier.