How do i trademark my business name for free [With Pictures]

Last updated : Sept 13, 2022

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how to trademark a name or logo for free hey everybody if you're watching this channel welcome my name is marcela dominguez where i help online and offline businesses protect their names logos slogans and taglines and also with a little bit of youtube marketing make sure that you hit subscribe down below i want to teach you everything that i know including how i grew my channel but also the law trademark law has been my cup of tea for a pretty long time now but you are here in this video because you want to know if you can protect your trademark or your logo or your business name for free so i'm going to cut straight to the chase and i'm going to tell you that the uspto is not going to allow you to protect your trademark for free now i know that that's pretty devastating to those of you that expected to get something free out of this but hey here's the free information that i'm providing to you the free information is the uspto is not giving registered trademarks for free there is going to be a cost associated with it and if you want to know all of the pricing details then make sure that you watch this video right here where i go into detail about all the new pricing that has been implemented by the uspto as of january 2021 so now that you know that nothing is going to be for free at the uspto do you want to keep watching this video well yes you do because i'm going to get to my point when i was an economics minor my teacher told me that nothing in life is free much less in business and so i thought what in the world are they talking about i've been to mcdonald's before where they will say oh here's your free drink or i've been to a restaurant where they'll say oh here's your free dessert and really i had to ask myself like were these things free did i really get a free drink did i really get a free dessert and the fact of the matter is that if you entered those businesses you had a purpose to purchase something right so i may have purchased a burger at mcdonald's i may have purchased an entree at applebee's and i ended up getting those things for free and even though it sounded like it was for free i actually had to pay for something before i was able to get something else so my point is that you always have to pay for something in either time or money and when it comes to the uspto you're going to have to take the time to read through the questions and read through the application to see which lines and which blanks are applicable to you so that you can fill them out so it's actually going to cost you a little bit of time to go through that application if you're actually hoping to save money now if you're not really interested in saving money and you're more interested in saving time then it would be beneficial for you to scroll down into the description where we can help you protect your name your logo your slogan and your tagline because we've been doing this for many years and you can look at all of the positive reviews that we have right here and you can also go to marcelatm.com i'm really happy that we've been able to help so many clients protect their logos their slogans and their taglines the varied amounts of businesses that are out there are incredible i love that entrepreneurs are risk takers and they're willing to see if the spaghetti sticks on the wall they're willing to see if their idea works and many times they are willing to do what it takes when you become an entrepreneur you'll see that there's always a cost benefit analysis something is always going to cost you time or it's going to cost you money nothing is ever going to be free in this lifetime whether you're an entrepreneur or not so my point in creating this video is that if you are looking to protect your trademark for free the closest you're going to get to that is by being on this channel and by making sure you hit the subscribe button because all of the content that you're watching right now is free but think about it it's still costing you time so i hope that this video was a little bit of a lesson in inspiring you and teaching you about the cost-benefit analysis of whatever new venture you're embarking upon if you are interested in getting a free trademark registration after watching this video you know that that's not entirely possible but if you want to come close to saving as much money as possible make sure that you visit trademarkanything.com where you can use a very simple diy solution for your trademark registration you can register a name a logo a slogan or a tagline using trademarkanything.com it's really simple to use and it should take you not more than five to ten minutes so if that's the kind of cost-effective solution that you're looking for knowing that a trademark registration won't be free then make sure that you scroll down into the description below where you can send me an email or you can simply file for your trademark at trademarkanything.com i look forward to seeing you in the next video and if you haven't checked out this video already make sure that you do so because in this video i cover all the basics that you need to know for registering your trademark but understanding the process just a little bit better before you embark on that journey i look forward to seeing you in the next video

Thanks for your comment Rebecca Shonk, have a nice day.
- Randee Tays, Staff Member

today we're learning all about trademarks what trademarks are common trademark misconceptions if it's worth you even trademarking your name and if so the exact steps you need to take to get a trademark if that sounds good let's get right into it hey i'm quran from life accounting the number one firm for financial education i need you to do me a favor though like this video for me if you want us to create more content about trademarks and subscribe to the channel for more videos like this let me know in the comments if you're going to trademark your name or not so what is a trademark a trademark is a word slogan phrase symbol or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of one good from another and they're issued and managed through the u.s patent and trade office also called the uspto trademarks are intended to minimize confusion that could happen if two or more businesses have the same symbol the same slogan the same logo or the same name so why register a trademark you're actually not required to register a trademark to have legal protection as soon as you begin selling your product or service you become a trademark owner and can enforce your trademark in court if necessary so simply by using your trademark your name your logo your slogan etc you establish rights called common law ownership which might make you wonder why do people go through the hassle to register a trademark well the downside to common law ownership and not registering a trademark is that it only protects you within your geographical region which leaves your trademark vulnerable and eligible for use outside your region if you open a bakery in new york common law does not stop someone from opening a bakery with the same name and the same logo in california if you want stronger nationwide rights and the ability to sue someone federally for infringement you want to register your trademark at the federal level with the u.s patent and trade office additionally getting a trademark allows you to defend your brand against counterfeit products domain squatters and gives you the freedom to use the registered symbol with your logo in total there are four legal reasons called a filing basis to register a trademark and you're required to specify the basis you choose on your application the two most common are the intent to use basis meaning your business has not started using your trademark yet maybe you haven't started your business yet but would like to get the application process started note that while you can apply under an intent to use basis your mark will not be registered until you convert the application to one based on the second filing basis which is use in commerce using commerce basis meaning you are currently using the trademark while selling or transporting goods and services all right let's talk about strong versus weak trademarks there are actually different types of trademark and depending on the type it may be easier to get your trademark approved or you may be denied completely so let's explore the different types first is the generic mark generic marks actually do not qualify for a trademark as they are marks that are words and phrases commonly used when conducting business in that industry for example the word water water by itself cannot be trademarked as it is a common noun that should be able to be used by all businesses who sell water then you have the descriptive mark descriptive marks describe a product or its ingredient quality characteristic function feature purpose or use an example would be high definition for tvs in general descriptive marks do not qualify as a trademark unless it becomes so popular indistinguishable that the word becomes a secondary meaning for the brand examples where this has worked is the sharp brand of televisions next is the suggested mark suggestive marks suggest something about the product or service without actually describing the product or the service examples include airbnb or the car company jaguar for this reason suggestive marks generally do qualify for a trademark as they are not common nouns for that industry let's go back to jaguar as an example a jaguar suggests speed and sleekness but most people do not think of a car company when they hear the word jaguar then there's the phantom fill mark fanciful marks also known as coin marks are words or phrases that did not exist before because of this fancy fold marks are the easiest type of marks to obtain and they offer the widest net of protection nike or google are amazing examples of a fanciful mark then you have the arbitrary mark an arbitrary mark is a word or phrase that includes a common phrase but not one that is associated with an attribute of the brand think about the term apple though the word is common it has nothing to do with computers arbitrary marks are also easy to obtain then there's a special category and type of mark called the service mark a service mark is similar to a trademark but distinguishes businesses that provide services from businesses that provide goods many companies like apple or starbucks will have both a service mark and a trademark as they provide products and services now other trademark types do exist like a certification mark that shows products and services or goods have met a standard and collective trademarks that indicate membership in a group or distinguished products and services of members from non-members now let's look at a few unacceptable trademarks yup let's briefly talk about things that are not trademarkable wait is that a word let's talk about the things that cannot be trademarked once again generic trademarks as previously mentioned generic trademarks are words or phrases that are used commonly when conducting business in that industry as an example ben and jerry's can't trademark the word ice cream you also cannot trademark existing trademark you're not able to trademark a word or phrase that is already a registered trademark within the same class of products or services for example multiple piece of businesses are not able to register the name dominoes but both domino's pizza and domino sugar can trademark the word domino as they are not in the same class of goods and services and lastly you can't trademark similar unregistered trademarks yup even trademarks not registered are often recognized by the federal government once again the goal of trademarks is to limit confusion and if another business in your industry or state has the same name your trademark application can be denied by the way if you like to learn the right way to form your business fund your business and understand the finances of your business use the 30 off coupon in the description it's for the money smart startup course and that coupon code expires soon all right let's talk about the steps to apply for a trademark step one is to determine approval eligibility you're going to want to consider the trademark category you are applying for to determine the likelihood that you will be granted the trademark in the first place in general marks that are unique and descriptive have the best chances the last thing you want to happen is t

Thanks Bradford your participation is very much appreciated
- Randee Tays

About the author

Randee Tays

I've studied anthropology of media at Defiance College in Defiance and I am an expert in foreign policy. I usually feel relaxed. My previous job was geological data technicians I held this position for 22 years, I love talking about karting and dancing. Huge fan of Stephen King I practice mountaineering and collect buttons.