Can i trademark my company name [Must-Know Tips]

Last updated : Aug 21, 2022

Should I copyright or trademark my business name?

A trademark can protect your name and logo in case someone else wants to use them for their own purposes. Also, you cannot really copyright a name, since copyright protects artistic works. This is exactly why you need to have a trademark that protects your company's intellectual property, such as your logo.

Can I trademark my business name myself?

Registering a trademark helps protect a name or brand from intellectual property theft or misuse as a business grows. You can start the trademarking process on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website. The application can be completed fairly quickly, but the entire process may take several months.

What happens if someone trademarks your company name?

Trademark Registration Then, the owner can face a lawsuit for using the same name as someone else even if the second party registered a trademark for the company after the first owner created the company. These situations usually require the services of a lawyer to both understand and pursue.

Do I need to trademark my business name?

There's no legal requirement for you to register a trademark. Using a business name can give you 'common law' rights, even without formally registering it.

Should I get a trademark or LLC first?

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.

How do I make sure no one steals my business name?

Your brand is your company's identity, so it's critical to secure it with a trademark, which prevents someone from improperly using your business name or branding. To get a trademark, you'll need to file an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

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 happens if I don't trademark my business?

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 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).

Can 2 businesses have the same name?

Can Two Companies Have the Same Name? Yes, however, certain requirements must be met in order for it to not constitutes trademark infringement and to determine which party is the rightful owner of the name.

Can you make money from trademarking?

But registering a trademark isn't just an opportunity for entrepreneurs to preserve all of their hard work from getting used by another company – it's another way to make money too. Some trademarks are worth billions. Google's trademark value totals a whopping $44.3 billion. Microsoft's comes in at $42.8 billion.

Can the same name be trademarked twice?

However, if the two products are not related to one another and not likely to cause any confusion, then trademark law will not prevent the two companies from using the same name. Put differently, if the same name is registered in different trademark classes, this does not give rise to an infringement claim.

Is it worth getting a trademark?

It is a good idea to register your trademark to protect yourself against an infringement suit, to add value to your company, to put your competitors and the public on notice of your rights in your own brand and to strengthen the legal protection of your mark.

How do you trademark a small business name?

1. First, decide if a trademark is right for you or if you should pursue another avenue.
2. Next, you must choose the mark to submit to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
3. Once you've found a suitable trademark name, prepare then submit an application to the USPTO.

Is an LLC the same as a trademark?

Legal Protection LLCs and trademarks are each an integral part of the business world, but both serve different purposes. While LLCs are legal business entities that protect the personal assets of business owners from lawsuits and bankruptcies, trademarks protect the intellectual property of the business.

When can I start using my trademark?

Once we file the trademark within 1-2 days you may start using the TM symbol and after receiving a certificate you can use the ® symbol.

How hard is it to trademark a business name?

Registering a trademark is a fairly straightforward process that you can complete in just a few easy steps. This guide will walk you through each step needed to register and trademark your brand name, and answer some frequently asked questions about registering your trademark.

Do I need a trademark for my 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.

How can I protect my company logo?

1. Do a trademark search in USPTO or EUIPO for similar trademarks to make sure yours doesn't conflict with another registered mark.
2. Complete a trademark application.
3. Wait and monitor for progress.

Can you trademark a name already in use but not trademarked?

1. Can You File for a Trademark That Exists? Updated November 12, 2020: 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.

Check these related keywords for more interesting articles :
How to free brand shei
How much does it cost for a trademark name
Canadian intellectual property office register
How to find a us patent number
How to successfully patent therapeutic antibodies
What is intellectual property rights in simple words
When can you claim trademark infringement
Does intellectual property law pay well
How to trademark my name
How to see if patent is expired
Can a kid get a patent
What is trademark registration in hindi
Trademark search romarin
Do i need to trademark my podcast name
Jointly developed intellectual property clause

Write a comment

hey hey party people welcome welcome to Rachael Rogers TV I'm Rachael Rodgers and I hope you are enjoying this lovely fall day I'm here in New York where we're about to get into some serious apple picking and you know everything is flavored pumpkin which is awesome today I would answer a question for you that I have been answering for many years at least three times a week every single week for essentially the last five years so I'm gonna dive into this question today because obviously it's about that time that I finally got around to doing a Rachael Rogers TV episode on it so today I'm going to answer the question should I trademark my logo or my business name now if you are a business owner that is ready to take action on protecting your brand the way that you're gonna do that is with trademark registration so most of my clients when they are ready to take action and protect their brand their next question is what things should I do first right and usually the question is around should I register my company name or should I register of the logo that has the company name in it okay so there are a couple of ways that I evaluate in this situation now you know if we were all big corporations and had endless legal budgets then we would just register both the company name and the logo that is the ideal way to get the maximum amount of trademark protection for your brand however most of my clients and myself included are small businesses right so we have limited legal budgets and so we need to really maximize what we're spending to get the maximum amount of protection for the least amount of money and that's what I help my clients do so when we're looking at a company that has a great company name they need to protect but then they also have a logo how do we decide these are the factors that I look at so when you are thinking about whether to start by registering the trademark for your company name or whether to start by registering the trademark for your logo the biggest thing you want to consider is what is making the bigger impact with your customers are your customers more impacted and more connected to your company name or are they more connected to your logo now there is a rule of thumb here typically if you're in a product based business where you are selling a physical product that has your logo on it or has your logo on the packaging then your logo is usually making the bigger impact with your customers right because they are seeing your product on a shelf with a bunch of other products or they're getting it in the mail with all kinds of packaging with your logo on it so the logo tends to be more impactful and a really big deal for physical products so if you're selling a physical product where whether it's you know a t-shirt design where the logo better than the t-shirt or whether it's a candle and the logos on the packaging for the candle the logo is making a big impact and you're spending a ton of money right to manufacture all of those products with your logo on it so your logo becomes a really big deal and it's really really important to protect it in that case however if you are in a service business usually it's your company name that is making the bigger impact service businesses tend to get their clients through you know the internet right so you're getting your clients online they're coming to your website and they're seeing your company name your company name is usually a part of or is your domain name right so that's the address that they're typing in when they're looking for you and then your company name is also on your business cards it's on your marketing materials that's really what they're connecting with right and service businesses tend to get a lot of their customers through referrals so that means that you know Joe Schmoe is telling their friends hey you should hire Rogers collective or whatever the name of your company is right so if you are in a product based business then the logo is likely the more important trademark that you need to protect to begin and if you are in a service business then more than likely your company name is more important to start with if you are in a business where you truly feel that both your logo and your company name are equally important and equally impactful on your customers then the only way to avoid registering both the logo and the company name totally depends on what your logo looks like it is possible to get a two-for-one deal where you get protection for your company name and your logo in one trademark application but only where the only words that appear in your actual trademark are your company name if your company name are the only words or numbers or punctuation that are included in your logo design then you will get protection for those words so the company the words that make up your company name you'll get protection for those as part of the logo design right so if I registered the logo for Rogers collective that I would have protection for the words Rogers collective as well however the problem comes in when you have a logo that has other words numbers or punctuation in it in addition to your company name for example this Rogers collective logo has the company name Roger's collective but it's also got our tagline right intelligent law for innovative business the problem with that is is that we're not going to have protection for just the words Rogers collective we'd have protection for the words Rogers collective intelligent law for innovative business right so if someone else wanted to come along and you know create a brand that was really similar and let's say they wanted to be called smart Drew's collective okay for lack of a better example if they wanted to because it's called something really close to our brand name they would be able to point to those additional words in our trademark application and say that is enough to differentiate smokers collective from Rogers collective intelligent law for innovative business you get what I mean so that is the reason why you can only do one application and get that two-for-one deal where you get protection for both your logo and your company name if you have a logo that only has your company name in it and no other words the other item that you may want to consider when you're deciding whether to register your company name or your logo is are you super committed to this logo or are you the type of person that is gonna want to change your logo every six months or every two years or really rather often right when you register your trademark it is not a super cheap process right it costs money it is an investment in an asset for your business trademark protection is actually something that you only want to invest in if this is something that you are committed to long term so if you're committed to your company name long term then you should go ahead and register that if you are committed to your logo long term then that is something else that you should consider protecting you register your trademarks you have protection for many years to come right so there's no point in registering your logo if you know that you'r

Thanks for your comment Lanny Ramaudar, have a nice day.
- Mario Sander, Staff Member

question the day here today when should you trademark your business name or your logo or your brand I'm gonna tell you just a second hey my name is Jim Hart I'm the founding attorney here at Hawthorn law and you might be wondering gem why are you sitting on the floor in front of this couch with the lighting that's awful to be perfectly honest it's because I'm in our land over them at the airport and I made this stupid terrible mistake if you've ever been to the Orlando Airport they have this atrium and you can either get a room that overlooks the atrium or you get a room that overlooks the runway typically I get a room that overlooks the runway they didn't have any available I flew in early this morning I needed a nap I just I was like I need a room fit the bullet I got this room but the lighting is not nearly as good as what I'm used to in the other room check out some my older videos and you'll see how much better the lighting is in those rooms anyway not that you really care you want to know when to trademark your logo or brand hold on a second I was talking to a client yesterday I did a I've still got some spots available for next week but I opened up a consult I greatly reduced my rate from $350 an hour to $200 an hour for a limited time to open up some half-hour slots between now and Christmas so you can get a consult with me if you need to consult for $97 I'll link to the link up here to get more information on that but anyway I was having a consult with somebody who took advantage of this offer earlier this week and one of the questions we were talking about was when they should trademark their brand or their logo or whatever this is a great question the appropriate legal answer is that you should trademark your brand name as soon as you possibly can that's not always practical there's some people that that for whatever reason because the money is tight or whatever they can't do it right away but if you've got a really good idea for a brand and you want to make sure nobody else starts stealing your intellectual property you need to get that trademark as soon as possible get that puppy trademark so that would be my official legal recommendation is to anyone who asks you need to get it done as soon as possible now there's there's a couple ways that you can go about trademarking a brand especially when you're just starting out the first way is if you're actually using it to sell products or services then you can just go ahead and file a trademark application to get a trademark immediately if you're not yet using it to sell products or services but maybe you've got it on your website and you're just kind of starting to build up a business but you haven't actually used it to sell anything yet and you've got a great idea you want to make sure nobody steals it then you can file what's called a notice of use trademark application which is it's it's the same application you just check a different box in the application and basically what happens is you go through the same process then you're given a period of time where you can start using the trademark because the trademark doesn't actually provide you any protection unless you're selling a good or service and so what you get is you get you get extra time to start selling your good or service your goods or services maybe that's a better way to say that anyway you get extra time and then if within that period of time you can either file for an extension or if you start using your trademark you file a notice that you've started using the trademark and then the trademark will register and then you're good to go from there but if not then you get an extension and you've got a couple extensions so in all I'll told you can get a couple of years to basically start using that trademark and if you don't start using the trademark then you can just abandon the application and it goes back out there into the the world is anybody else care plan for that trademark if they wanted to my advice to you is if you're looking to build a business or a brand that you really want to grow and you think that you've got a really great name that that you want to protect then you want to trademark that brand or name as soon as possible I think a great example of this was and I forget her name the woman who created Spanx she didn't tell anybody about her brand for a year for at least a year there was an interview I heard where she was talking about this I'll try and link up down below to the interview with this woman it was on a podcast and she talked about how she went through methodical steps to do everything she could to protect the brand Spanx through she filing her patent application getting the process patented and her trademark and everything else as soon as she possibly could without telling anyone about what she was doing and then when a time came for her to start selling she had it all in place that's a great example of why you need to do it early because she had a great name a great concept and she wanted to make sure it was protected I'll do another a video on all the different reasons why you should trademark your brand but I just wanted to do this video to answer those questions for those of you out that are wondering when you should do it how soon you should do it if you want to do the trademark application yourself I don't recommend it but you can do it yourself if you've got a good name that's easily too tricky I just can't talk today if you've got a good name that's easy to trademark you can probably do it for the cost of the filing fee which is around three hundred dollars if you really want some legal guidance and you want to do a search and you want to figure out if anyone else is using this trademark and you want some help doing all that you've got two choices you can either hire an attorney which this is something that we do to do this for you or you can join our DIY legal program I'll include a link up here where we do a tutorial on how to trademark your brand and how to come up with a good name and all those type of things and that's something that we're going to include in that program so so there are other ways to do it they're a little bit less expensive anyway that's it for today I hope you're having a great day I also have a free training I'm gonna link up up here if you want to watch a replay of the webinar that I did several months ago that has gotten a lot of positive reviews you can go ahead and do that that's it for today folks have a great day don't forget give us a thumbs up comment below if you've got a question you know just type trademark and let me know that you're listening that you understand what I'm saying or if you just have a comment that you want leave a comment below and ask a question that's fine we'll use that for future videos we do not answer illegal questions in YouTube comments that is a big no-no don't forget to subscribe yeah that's down here and hit the little Bell thingy and can get notified whenever we post new videos we're posting videos about once a week going forward for my DIY members I'm looking to do a Q&A call every Friday for them I don't th

Thanks socayo5 your participation is very much appreciated
- Mario Sander

About the author

Mario Sander

I've studied geopolitics (political geography) at Academy of Art University in San Francisco and I am an expert in aerial archaeology. I usually feel morose. My previous job was food technologist I held this position for 3 years, I love talking about mini golf and trainspotting. Huge fan of Zach Galifianakis I practice ice hockey and collect coins.