Can i trademark a logo [New Info]

Last updated : Sept 15, 2022

Is it worth trademarking a logo?

Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds and colors and distinguish one company's goods and products from another. Trademarking a logo not only protects it from being used by other similar companies, it also protects a company from unknowingly infringing upon an existing logo.

How much does it cost to trademark a logo?

What Does it Cost to Trademark a Logo? The cost to trademark a logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is $275–$660 as of June 2020, plus legal fees. You can register a trademark with your state for $50-$150, but federal registration offers a great deal more legal protection.

How can I trademark my logo for free?

Can you trademark your logo for free? You can not register a trademark for free. However, what you can do is establish something known as a "common law trademark" for free. You can do this by simply opening for business.

Can I trademark my logo without a business?

By simply having a logo, you have what's known as a common law trademark for your logo. That means that, without doing anything paperwork-wise, you have the sole legal right to use and amend that logo as you see fit.

Is it better to copyright or trademark a logo?

How to legally protect your logo design. To protect your logo, you need a trademark or service mark (trademarks are generally used for products, while service marks are usually applied to services). You should not copyright or patent a logo design.

Which is better copyright or trademark?

Copyright protects original work, whereas a trademark protects items that distinguish or identify a particular business from another. Copyright is generated automatically upon the creation of original work, whereas a trademark is established through common use of a mark in the course of business.

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 is the cheapest way to trademark?

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).

How do you brand a logo?

1. File an application via Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), which requires a detailed description of your logo and what it represents.
2. Check the status of your application (normally it takes about 4 months to finish the process, but it may vary).

How can I make a logo legally?

A unique logo can be trademarked by registering it with the USPTO. Anyone can apply online on the USPTO website if the business for which they're authorized to file is principally located inside the U.S. If based outside the U.S., a patent attorney will be required to make the filing.

Do I need to register my logo?

In the U.S., you don't need to register a trademark or copyright your company's logo. Once you put down the original work on paper or digital media and use it to market your business, you automatically own the rights. However, registering a trademark affords you an extra layer of protection.

Who owns a logo design?

Copyright law provides that the designer of the logo is the first owner, unless it's made by an employee in the course of their employment, in which case the copyright will be owned by the employer. If you employ a designer who creates your new logo, you will own the copyright in it.

What happens if you don't trademark a logo?

If you do not register your trademark, you will have legal rights only within the geographic areas where you operate. This means you may be able to stop a subsequent user of the mark, even if it is a bigger company, from using the mark in your geographic area only.

What happens if you don't trademark your logo?

There is risk associated with building a business based on brand names or logos that you don't own. There's risk that you'll have to pay out royalties to someone else down the road. There's risk you'll have to rebrand and lose some of that brand equity you've built up.

How do I patent my logo?

1. Search for similar logos. Only original logos receive trademarks.
2. Get a professional search. While a personal search is a good start, many novices miss relevant trademarks.
3. Access and complete the registered trademark application form.
4. Submit your application and filing fees.

What can you not trademark?

• Proper names or likenesses without consent from the person.
• Generic terms, phrases, or the like.
• Government symbols or insignia.
• Vulgar or disparaging words or phrases.
• The likeness of a U.S. President, former or current.
• Immoral, deceptive, or scandalous words or symbols.
• Sounds or short motifs.

Should I trademark before LLC?

It is important to get BOTH an LLC and a trademark and it is best to form the LLC BEFORE applying for a trademark. Each offers different protections, and they work together to provide broad protection for your business. It is better to form an LLC before filing a trademark application.

Is Mickey Mouse a trademark or copyright?

People can now create their own stories with the original Mickey Mouse character. However, there are still legal hurdles like trademark law. Disney holds Mickey Mouse trademarks for a variety of commercial uses. And while copyright is time-limited, trademarks are not.

How do I trademark a logo design?

1. Complete a trademark search.
2. Secure your rights.
3. Submit an initial application at uspto.gov on the Trademark Electronic Application System or TEAS.
4. Fill out the TEAS form for an initial application. Be sure to upload the file of your logo.
5. Submit an "intent-to-use" form.
6. Pay the fees.

Can a trademark be copied?

By law, you need not request permission to use a trademark belonging to another if it is for an editorial or informational use. Trademark law protects distinctive words, phrases, logos, symbols, slogans, and any other devices used to identify and distinguish products or services in the marketplace.

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hi everyone I'm attorney aid in Durham with 180 lock Oh in Denver Colorado and you're watching all up in your business in this episode of all up in your business we're going to talk about the steps to take to trademark a name a business name or a product or service name and these steps are also going to apply to trademarking a logo but there are a few little differences if you're doing a logo versus trying to trademark a name but first before we get into it huge announcement coming at you March 4th is brandish DIY your trademark application during this one-hour webinar and mini workshop I'm going to teach you step by step how to prepare for complete and submit a trademark application without a lawyer and registration opens soon so if you want to learn the exact steps to take to file a trademark application without a lawyer check the description below for a link to get on the waitlist and to get some special early bird discount opportunities - all right let's talk about how to trademark a name the first step before you go trade marking anything is make sure it's something that's worth trademarking what makes a name more or less worth trade marking it really depends on how strong or weak it is a weak trademark is one that is more generic or common or descriptive versus a strong trademark which is something that's very arbitrary or very distinctive very creative and so the stronger your trademark is the stronger the trademark registration is going to be so if you have a really weak trademark something that typically makes it weak is if it's very descriptive of your goods or your services or if it's primarily your last name something like that makes a trademark on the weaker side and with a weak trademark if you register it all you have is a registered weak trademark and your trademark rights will ruffle to that if you have a weak generic trademark name your rights to enforce that trademark are gonna be somewhat limited and weaker versus if you have a very arbitrary name that's a stronger trademark then your registered trademark rights are gonna be a lot stronger to a few examples of very strong trademarks are like Google Google wasn't even a word until Google came out and created it so any like brand new word or creating a new word creating a new sound combining words to create something new that's the best thing you can do is create a brand new word or a brand new trademark that no one's ever seen before that's gonna make it stronger versus a weaker trademark so if we've decided that it's worth pursuing a trademark registration the next thing we want to do is make sure it's available to even register and use in the US a good first place to start with searching for your trademark availability is of course Google or your favorite search engine type in the trademark that you're looking to register and see what comes up if there's a bunch of other business listings for similar types of products or services if the exact trademark that you want comes up a lot or if there are a lot of similar variations then that might be a little red flag that maybe this trademark has already taken or if it's not taken necessarily registered if there's a lot of competition with that trademark that's going to affect how strong and distinctive your trademark is so if you're seeing a lot of similar variations of your trademark or identical trademarks then you might want to think about how that will impact your registration and then after doing a Google search you can also do a search on the Whois database to see what kind of domain name registrations already exists that incorporate your trademark or something similar to it and then the USP tío has a really good search database available - this allows you to search for pending trademark applications and registered trademarks that might be identical or similar to yours so if you go to the USPTO s website its uspto.gov and you'll navigate to their tests tes s system and this is where you're gonna do that search and you'll usually be able to do just a basic word search for your name now this is where the difference comes in if you're trying to trademark a logo then you'll want to do a design search which is a bit more complicated than just a basic word search so here you can type in the trademark name that you're wanting to use for this example I'm gonna type in all up in your business and then we'll see what comes up so let's say you were wanting to register your trademark all up in your business for your local ice cream shop we see here there is an active live registration for all up in yo business so what's important to note if you do find trademarks that are identical to yours or kind of similar to yours pay attention also to the goods or services that are associated with that registration there are two things primarily that go into trademark applications and trademark registrations the first is the similarity of the trademark itself the second is the similarity of the goods or services so if I'm opening an ice cream shop called all opinio business this current all up in your business registration is for like legal services and things that have absolutely nothing to do with ice cream or ice cream shops so with this finding I am relatively safe feeling like I can proceed with my application because there aren't any that are so similar in trademark and in the goods and services that it's likely it'll get through but if you do find something in the database that is kind of similar to your trademark and goods or services are somewhat related or if they're identical then again that's a red flag that you're going to want to take into consideration and maybe go back to the drawing board because if someone else already has that trademark registered in a very related category of goods or services that's going to impact how your application goes and whether or not you're going to get that registration you can also use some third-party trademark search tools there are companies out there that will do a very thorough trademark search these aren't lawyers or law offices they're just trademark search companies that will search the USPTO and common-law usage and even international usage and then what they'll do is they'll compile all the information and give you typically this very large report summarizing what they found now if you're not a lawyer and you don't know how to actually interpret and analyze those results it may not do you a whole lot of good to pay for that kind of a search but if you can figure out how to analyze what you're looking at then using one of those services for a pretty extensive search is a good idea but really the best option is to use an attorney to help you with this clearance search because the attorney is gonna not only know what to search for but they're also going to understand what they're looking at and they're gonna know how to analyze that in the context of your trademark and determine what it actually means for the fate of your trademark application so if we've determined we want to file the application and the trademark is available the next step is to start using the trademark now ok

Thanks for your comment Alvin Grines, have a nice day.
- Gaylene Jernstrom, Staff Member

hi everyone I'm attorney aid in Durham with 180 la Co in Denver Colorado and welcome back to all up in your business in this episode of all up in your business I'm gonna talk about trademarks and copyrights and especially what they mean when it comes to a logo for your business but first let's address the fact that they're things look a little different around here that's right there are some changes going on behind the scenes at all up in your business I have relocated to beautiful sunny San Diego back to my hometown so bear with me as things might be changing in the background while I'm still unpacking and getting stuff organized and figuring out where things are gonna go you might also be wondering what's going on with this girl's hair well for those of you who have wavy frizzy hair you'll understand that if you live in a place with even a touch of humidity just straightening doesn't work so I'm embracing it and this is what I look like now so we're all just gonna have to get used to it all right and last thing before we get into it be sure to LIKE subscribe and share and I check the description for more information and additional resources and stuff too alright so in my last video I talked to you guys about some things that people commonly think are trademarks but that are not actually trademarks and in that video I mentioned really briefly that sometimes something can be both protected by trademarks and by copyright law and most commonly this applies to logos or other kinds of designs that are used for businesses and this of course raised a lot more questions from you guys about should I worry about copyright protection for my logo or should I be copywriting my logo or should I get a trademark and some just more questions coming up about how trademarks and copyrights work together specifically when it comes to logo designs that are used in so that's what we are going to dive into today specifically should you worry about a copyright a trademark or both when it comes to your business's logo so a little quick background for those of you who may not already be familiar a trademark trademark law protects words phrases logos designs symbols that are used by a business to indicate the source of their goods or services basically it prevents your competitors from using your trademark on the same or similar types of goods or services a copyright on the other hand protects creative and artistic expressions and copyright prevents anybody aside from the copyright holder from using or distributing the copyrighted work and so it's not completely uncommon for a logo to be protected under both trademark law and copyright law because a logo can be used as a source indicator for a business that's how commonly a logo is used but a logo can also be considered a work of art or a work of creative expression so a logo or some kind of a design that's used for a business can fall into both trademark and copyright categories but that's not always the case in order to be protected under copyright the logo has to have some creative or artistic element to it it can't just be stylized wording or stylized text or just common shapes or symbols it it must possess at least some minimal degree of creativity now what is that minimal degree of creativity mean there's no there's no real answer I can't tell you what that degree of minimal creativity has to be but it has to exist essentially it's like we'll know it when it's there we'll know it when it's not there and when we don't know is when these questions go into the legal process and that's how we decide this thing did have some creative expression or you know enough artistic element to it versus this thing didn't but for the most part the thing that you want to remember when it comes to copyrights is that familiar designs common patterns familiar symbols and shapes and then just designs and typography or font or text those things aren't going to be enough of a creativity or an artistic element to qualify under copyright so let's take my 180 loco logo for example this logo is a trademark because I use it as one it's a symbol and some words and a design that when I use it I'm using it as a way to indicate to the consuming public that this logo means you're working with me when you see this logo that means you're dealing with me so it's a trademark but you know it's not just words it's got this little you know circle to it and a little bit of design element to it but it's not a copyright it's not protected under copyright it's really just a circle kind of a half circle with some dots and the 180 in it and some extra words so while there is some design and creativity to it it's nothing unique it's not an art artistic expression I'm just taking commonly used shapes and make them into something that is a trademark for me so in this case my logo doesn't really qualify under copyright protection but it is edible for trademark for the record I don't have a registered trademark for my company's logo it's frankly it's not that important to me again it's just the name and a semicircle and stuff so you know you don't have to register every trademark I do of course have 180 LOC Oh the name trademarked but anyway so all of this to show you guys like yeah this isn't really a copyright but it is a trademark but then on the other hand let's look at this very popular well-known Starbucks logo again of course this is a trademark we see this logo on a cup or on a bag of coffee or on the side of a building and we know this product or the service this thing is coming from this company that we recognize this Starbucks so it's clearly a trademark but it's also protected under copyright law try Starbucks does actually have a registered copyright in this symbol in this design too primarily because of that the mermaid girl if it wasn't for her this wouldn't be a creative work it wouldn't be eligible for a copyright just the the words themselves the Starbucks you know around the logo that doesn't do much for copyright but the the girl the image herself that in itself it has enough degree of creativity that it in itself is considered a work of art essentially so Starbucks has a trademark but they also have a copyright for the same symbol but again remember the trademark and the copyright they they do very different things so whereas the trademark goes they have a trademark for the logo obviously but they also have a trademark for Starbucks just the name on its own because they want to protect that too where is this copyright for the logo even though the copyright might include the Starbucks in it the copyrights not really protecting the Starbucks name it's not protecting the Starbucks brand in the same way that a trademark does so why does all this matter again trademarks and copyrights serve very different functions and they do very different things trademark protection for the most part it only extends to the goods and services that are registered the the goods and services on the trademark application that's why we can have things like Ace Hardware and ace bandages Ace Hardware has a trademark for Ace Hardware ace panda jizz has a trade

Thanks stuckindisneyA your participation is very much appreciated
- Gaylene Jernstrom

About the author

Gaylene Jernstrom

I've studied regional geography at University of the Potomac in Washington and I am an expert in finance (outline). I usually feel bouncy. My previous job was film laboratory technician I held this position for 24 years, I love talking about webtooning and ode. Huge fan of Courtney Stodden I practice tumbling and collect stamps.