Can a person register a trademark [New Info]

Last updated : Aug 21, 2022

Can an individual be the owner of a trademark?

A trademark owner can include but is not limited to individuals, partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies, sole proprietorships, trusts, estates, etc. The owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark infringement.

What are the three types of trademark?

What you'll learn: Arbitrary and Fanciful Trademarks. Suggestive Trademarks. Descriptive Trademarks.

Can I register a trademark without a company?

Any individual – Indian National or Foreign National can easily register a trademark in India. There is no requirement for forming a legal entity or business entity to register a trademark.

Should I trademark as individual or company?

The use and grant of a trademark are independent of the nature of the business entity. It is however advisable, to have your own trademark. This would serve as a symbol of your reputation, quality, nature of goods or services. And go a long way in creating brand value.

How long does a trademark last?

A federal trademark lasts 10 years from the date of registration, with 10-year renewal terms. Between the fifth and sixth year after the registration date, the registrant must file an affidavit to state that the mark is still in use.

What trademark Cannot be registered?

Section 13 and 14 of the Act provides that trademarks containing specific names cannot be registered. Trademarks which have a word that is commonly used of any single chemical element or chemical compound in relation to a chemical substance or preparation cannot be registered.

Is it expensive to trademark a name?

The basic cost to trademark a business name ranges from $225 to $600 per trademark class. This is the cost to submit your trademark application to the USPTO. The easiest and least expensive way to register your trademark is online, through the USPTO's Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).

What all documents are required for trademark?

Individual or proprietorship address proof includes a copy of Aadhaar, PAN, or Passport. If the applicant is a partnership firm, the names of all partners are necessary; however, if the applicant is a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), the trademark application must be filed in the name of the LLP.

What is the main requirement for a trademark?

Two basic requirements must be met for a mark to be eligible for trademark protection: it must be in use in commerce and it must be distinctive. The first requirement, that a mark be used in commerce, arises because trademark law is constitutionally grounded in the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce.

What comes first trademark or registered?

having a registered trademark. You become a trademark owner as soon as you start using your trademark with your goods or services. You establish rights in your trademark by using it, but those rights are limited, and they only apply to the geographic area in which you're providing your goods or services.

Who is the owner of a trademark?

The owner of the trademark is the person or entity that controls the nature and quality of the goods/services provided under the trademark. The owner is not necessarily the name of the person filling out the application.

Who can hold a trademark?

Who can own a trade mark application or registration? A trade mark application or registration can be owned by one or more individuals, a Limited Company or a Partnership.

Should I get a trademark or LLC first?

4. Should you get an LLC first or trademark? Yes, you should get an LLC first before a trademark because the trademark application will need to identify the LLC as the trademark owner. You should create an LLC or business entity before you file a trademark application.

How long does a trademark take to get approved?

Usually, the process takes 12 to 18 months. Registering your trademark is a complex procedure that involves your application moving through various stages. Learning about each stage in the process will help you understand why getting a trademark takes as long as it does.

Can you lose a trademark if you don't protect it?

If you don't enforce your trademark, you risk losing reputation, business, sales, customers, and more to the infringer. There's also a concept in trademark law called abandonment. Generally, if you don't use your mark for three years or more, it's considered abandoned.

What can I do with a trademark?

A trademark protects a good or service offered by a company from infringement or damage of reputation by another company. With a trademark, you have legal recourse to sue another company that uses your likeness to further their own business ventures. This includes both registered and unregistered trademarks.

Can I trademark a color?

In order for a color to be marked, it requires that there be proof of a “secondary meaning.” This means that a color can only be trademarked in connection with a good or service if, through the use of the color over time, the public has come to associate that color with a particular brand.

What is the difference between registered and unregistered trademark?

An unregistered trademark or common law mark is essentially the same thing as a registered trademark except that the owner did not register the mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or a state trademark office.

Can you trademark something that already exists?

If you're wondering, "can you trademark something that already exists," the simple answer is "no." Generally speaking, if somebody has used a trademark before you, you can't register the trademark for yourself.

How much is a trademark worth?

Loosely, we could say the value of owning a trademark early ranges from about $0 to $5,000 depending on the industry.

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Thanks for this great article

Thanks for your comment Shera Chrestman, have a nice day.
- Brett Youngers, Staff Member

hi everyone i'm attorney aiden durham with 180 law co in denver colorado and you're watching all up in your business on this episode of all opinion business we're going to talk about which comes first an llc or a trademark or in other words should you focus on getting a trademark before you start forming your business but before we get into it don't forget to like subscribe and share and hit that little bell button so you get notifications anytime i post a new video and don't forget to check the description for links to more information and resources you can download my free guide three tips for trademarking your brand and you can also get more information about my trademark services if you're looking for more help with getting a registered trademark for your business all right so it's probably no big secret that there are a lot of things that go into starting a business a lot of steps that need to be taken and you know a lot of to do's that need to be checked off and it can often be pretty confusing figuring out the proper order for doing all of that what do i do first do i worry about this or do i need to take care of this first lots of questions come up and a big one has to do with trademarks and whether you should focus on getting a registered trademark or applying for a trademark or if you should first start with actually forming the business because i work mostly with llcs and a lot of single member llc's i'm going to use llcs for these examples and talk about llc's but what i'm talking about really applies to any other kind of business entity not just specifically llcs so if we're talking about starting a business and we're going to operate as an llc the big question is do i form the llc first or do i file for the trademark first as with most things there's no one right answer um it always always depends on your situation your circumstances all of that um but generally speaking what i typically recommend is forming the business first getting the llc for formed first before you worry about filing the trademark application the reason for this is because the trademark is going to be owned by someone and normally we would want the llc to be the owner of the trademark because the llc is going to be the one using the trademark so let's say we file the application for the trademark first since the llc doesn't exist yet it can't be the applicant it can't be named as the owner of the trademark because it doesn't exist so in that case you as the individual or individual owners of um of the business would have to be the applicant and the owner and that's fine but if you are the owner of the trademark but then your business is going to be using it you would have to assign or transfer the trademark ownership to the business and you can't really do that while the trademark is in the application process once the trademark has been registered then it's fairly easy to transfer it from the owner to the llc um but you know it always again kind of depends on the situation so because of that that's really the main reason that we typically want to set the llc up first is so the llc exists so it can own the trademark now the little one exception that i make to this is usually with single member llc's if you're going to be the only owner um then it's not in the end it's not really a big deal if you are named as the owner of the trademark initially because then like i said once the trademark is registered you can assign or transfer that ownership to the llc um and that can be part of your member contribution to the llc is this intellectual property this trademark registration but the reason i say that specifically for single member llcs is because when there's more members more people involved it can potentially cause a problem later on if we're trying to transfer ownership or let's say there are multiple members and one of the members is named as the owner um if that member decides to you know pack up and leave or hit the road then it may not be easily possible to get that ex-member to transfer ownership of the trademark to the llc now or uh it is possible to have multiple owners of a trademark so if multiple members are the owners then it's just you know more that goes into having to make that assignment or that transfer because we're dealing with more people who have to uh agree to it now essentially so you know in the end overall it is best to start with forming the llc or getting the entity up and running and formed before you worry about filing a trademark application or pursuing trademark registration but but but the big the big thing with that is that just because we're not worrying about the trademark just yet doesn't mean we don't need to worry about the trademark just yet uh this is going to be especially important if the name of your llc is going to be the trademark is going to be the name or the brand that you're going to do business under something that often kind of gets people confused is um a business name or an llc name isn't the same as a trademark at all um you can have your llc be registered under some name and then your trademark can be something completely different you don't necessarily have to do business under the name of your llc you can use a trade name or a dba you can have different brands under an llc so if the llc name is what you're going to use as your trademark if that's going to be the trademark if that's going to be the the brand then you do want to at least do some preliminary kind of trademark clearance before you commit to a specific llc name because with llc registrations there's not going to be checks and balances like there are with trademark registrations where an examining attorney tells you you know this trademark is available and you know you can have the registration that doesn't happen with llc registration so just because you register uh the name under an llc doesn't mean that it's going to be available for you to register as a trademark so if you're in the process of setting up an llc and that llc name is what you are going to use as your trademark then at least you know do a good thorough google search uh get on the uspto's website they have the tess tess search database that you can do a pretty simple search of any registered or pending trademark applications at least get a good idea of if the name that you want to use for your llc and trademark is at least available best case scenario of course would be to have an attorney perform a full clearance search for you before you even worry about the trademark so that way we get the trademark done then we know we're in the clear for filing the trade i'm sorry we get the llc done and then we know we're in the clear for filing the trademark having said that though in the end let's say you file and form your llc and then you get around to thinking about the trademark and you find that that trademark's actually not available you won't be able to register that trademark for most states the process of amending your llc's name isn't very uh it's not very difficult it's not uh especially costly or time-consuming process so often worst case scenario if you do wan

Thanks Sidney your participation is very much appreciated
- Brett Youngers

About the author

Brett Youngers

I've studied file dynamics at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Green Bay and I am an expert in taphonomy. I usually feel indescribable. My previous job was computer systems engineer I held this position for 22 years, I love talking about sculling or rowing and fishing. Huge fan of Jaden Smith I practice acrobatic gymnastics and collect football cards.