How do you trademark a business name [Real Research]

Last updated : Aug 4, 2022

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man oh man that how to trademark your uh business name video that i put up about a year ago oh it's so cringeworthy it's yellow it's grainy i feel like i was just so confusing and talking a whole bunch of crap in that video so that is why we're putting up a whole new updated how to trademark your business name video for 2021. what's up everyone what's up fam welcome back to the channel for my og subbies and for my new folks welcome welcome my name is jolene dukedeer you can call me jill d and on this channel we talk about cannabis business and entrepreneurship from a legal perspective and today we're talking a little bit about how to trademark your business name i have an old video that i put up in 2020 my og subscribers know what i'm talking about it is so yellow and so grainy so outdated i hate that video it's one of my most popular videos to date but i think we could do better so today we're gonna do an updated version of that video i'm gonna go into a little bit more detail and hopefully it'll be a little bit easier to understand for you guys before i jump in please don't forget to subscribe to the channel share the video with someone who you think could benefit from the content and like it and give it a thumbs up if you enjoy the content i would really appreciate it and i appreciate you for watching so at the outset the beginning of this entire filing for a trademark for your business name process we want to go ahead and do some background research and some digging before we even touch an application all right so that's gonna mean you're gonna hit up google run a quick search for your business name or names that are similar to yours check out the different social media platforms and see what's out there if you run into things that are like established businesses that have the same name or a similar name to yours that might be an indication that there is a pending mark or an already registered mark already existing with the patent and trademark office and that could present a problem for you down the road but the most important step in this background research is getting a trademark search done like a clearance search there is a database that the patent and trademark office provides all of us it's public that you can search to find different marks that are registered that are dead that are live that are pending and it's called tests t-e-s-s and where would we find test jill it's linked for you below in the description box it's literally similar to google so you would just put your business name in there or any variation thereof and it should pull up any pending registered or dead marks that contain your name that is the same as your name or maybe even similar to your name in some instances so you could look at the records and see what's out there that is pending or registered or dead with the patent and trademark office so if you pull up a bunch of records and they have the same name as you that is an indication that you might run into some problems in the future with your trademark application so it's very important that you go into each record and take a look at what's there are they abandoned are they dead are they live are they registered these things do matter so take a look at each record that you pull up that's similar or the same to your as yours and um dive in a little bit deeper and see what's really going on with that record now if you are doing this my chair is really squeaky if you're doing this and you are confused or you can't make heads or tails of anything that you're seeing and you're it's just stressing you out and you're not confident then at that point i recommend that you get a legal professional to assist you with doing the clearance search the trademark clearance search it doesn't have to be me it's just anyone that knows what they're doing so that you can interpret the results correctly and make a decision based on the feedback a good sound decision based on the feedback because you don't want to get to the end of the process where you've already paid for this application just to get a refusal letter saying that there's somebody else that has the same name as you um or whatever the case may be so do the upfront work so you don't have to worry about it at the back end i'm all for you guys doing things diy i love to diy myself but sometimes it just makes more sense to have someone else help you and that's real talk no cap why did i say cap like that no cap no cap it's no cap right whatever put no cap down in the comments so the next thing you'll want to do after you've already done your clearance search and you've gotten your head wrapped your head around on your actual name and what's out there is you're going to want to get a handle on what class or classes you're gonna file in i already have a video that goes over trademark classes i'll go ahead and put the thumbnail here and link it in the cards for you above and i also put a link in the description box so y'all can't you like you just can't miss it that video goes over the 45 different um trademark classes like not in detail all 45 but it gives you a good overview of what trademark classes are and how they play with your whole trademark registration in general so the way that you can um actually sort of figure out or get a good idea about what sort of classes you'll fall into or class you'll fall into is you can run a search on the patent and trademark office's id manual and i also link that for you down below you navigate to that you can put in like your industry or your type of goods that you're going to be selling let's just say clothing for example if you put in clothing you'll see a ton of results that come up you'll see on one side a bunch of numbers which will include the class for that particular um good or service and then you'll also see a series of descriptions so if you go through that these are already existing in the patent and trademark office database they're already there so if you go through that you can get a good sense of what class you need to be in and then take a look at the descriptions and see if they're appropriate for you so now that you've gathered up all of this background information you've got a clearance search done you have a good idea of what's out there like with your name or a similar name and now you have a good idea of what class you're going to be filing in or classes you're going to be filing in along with a description of your goods or services you should be at a good point to start your trademark application so you can do this online there's an electronic application i don't know who's still doing a whole bunch of paper stuff in 2021 or at all we're not even going to mention 2020 like we're going to go what was it whatever 2019 um we're not even going to talk about 2020 but like yeah there's electronic applications there's uh several different options that you have available to you and each application type has different features so it's probably a good idea to go and research each application type to see what the requirements are and to see if they fit your situation once you've selected your application type

Thanks for your comment Marcel Torrella, have a nice day.
- Meryl Kosky, 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 Elva your participation is very much appreciated
- Meryl Kosky

About the author

Meryl Kosky

I've studied linguistic anthropology at Watkins College of Art in Nashville and I am an expert in pharmaceutical policy. I usually feel quixotic. My previous job was registrar administrator I held this position for 16 years, I love talking about mathematics and golf. Huge fan of Jennifer Lawrence I practice freestyle skiing and collect hockey cards.