What does a trademarking mean [Definitive Guide]

Last updated : Sept 19, 2022

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What does it mean if you have a trademark?

A trademark is an easily recognizable symbol, phrase, or word that denotes a specific product. It legally differentiates a product or service from all others of its kind and recognizes the source company's ownership of the brand.

What is the point of trademarking something?

A trademark protects the specific, unique name, logo, and symbols pertaining to your products or business brand. Trademark protection may apply to business names, symbols, logos, sounds, and even colors that are emblematic of one specific brand.

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 are the benefits of registering a trademark?

A Federal Trademark Registration Protects Against Infringement.
A Federal Trademark Registration Provides Nationwide Validity.
A Federal Trademark Registration is a Valuable Asset.
Unique Trademarks Helps Customers Find You.

How much is a trademark?

No matter how you file, you will pay a minimum of $250 to apply for a Federal trademark. But considering the importance of your trademark, and the potential complexities you face when filing, it's not a bad idea to use a lawyer or filing service.

What are examples of trademark?

Under ArmourÂ®
TwitterÂ®
It's finger lickin' good! Â®
Just do itÂ®
America runs on Dunkin'Â®

Why would you trademark a business name?

Names hold power in business. So establishing ownership of and rights to a business name is an important step for businesses that want to ensure a name remains one-of-a-kind. Registering a trademark helps protect a name or brand from intellectual property theft or misuse as a business grows.

What are the three types of trademarks?

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

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.

Can I use my name as a trademark?

You can trademark your name if it has business or commercial value. Trademarking your name gives you an additional brand and keeps others from using your name. To trademark your name you must meet specific requirements with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

What are the disadvantages of trademark?

Trade Mark Classes Cannot Be Altered. One key difficulty with trade marks is that you cannot alter trade mark classes.
Difficulty with Litigation. Another key difficulty with trade marks is litigation issues.
Renewals.
Protection Limitations.
Risk of Being Genericised.

Do you pay taxes on a trademark?

Report your profit from the sale of the trademark on your income taxes. You cannot deduct the cost of creating your trademark, but you can apply it to your formulation of the "income tax basis", which is the reference point for determining tax liability upon sale and depreciation deductions.

What is the most common reason that a trademark might be rejected?

Likelihood of confusion is the most common reason an application will be rejected by the USPTO. Essentially, if there is a high probability that the general public will confuse your trademark with someone else's (already existing) trademark, your registration will not be granted. The two marks need not be identical.

Do I have to trademark my logo?

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 do I trademark a name for free?

You can not register a trademark for free. However, you can establish something known as a "common law trademark" for free, simply by opening for business. The benefit of relying on common law trademark rights is that it's free, and you don't need to do any specific work filling out forms, etc.

What does a trademark protect?

A trademark typically protects brand names and logos used on goods and services. A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work. A patent protects an invention.

What are the 4 types of trademarks?

Generic. A generic term is a common description that does not receive trademark protection.
Descriptive.
Suggestive.
Arbitrary or Fanciful.

Is Nike Just Do It trademarked?

Just Do It or JDI for short (stylized as JUST DO IT. and set in Futura Bold Condensed) is a trademark of shoe company Nike, and it is one of the core components of Nike's brand. The slogan was coined in 1988 at an advertising agency meeting.

How do I trademark my logo?

How to Trademark a Logo. 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.

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.

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Comment by Denny Engelhard

he folks today we're going to be discussing the differences between copyright and Trademark just a quick disclaimer to say that I am NOT an IP professional if you do require intellectual property advice please do seek out professional help so what is copyright copyright is there to protect your original creative works you can't copyright an idea you can copyright things like literary work dramatic works Musical and artistic work as long as they are in a tangible form what do I mean by a tangible form well things like books film recordings websites software photography paintings or graphic design elements like business cards or brochures having the copyright then gives you the exclusive rights to perform distribute make copies of or even make adaptations of your original creative work here in the UK there is no requirement to register your copyright it just happens automatically as soon as the work is created this may be different in your location so please check with your local Copyright Office or intellectual property office to get the full facts on how copyright is assigned in your country protection on copyright generally lasts for the lifetime of the author Plus 70 years again this may be different in your country so please check once you have created your work and the copyright is assigned you then have permission to use that little copyright symbol the little C inside the circle along with the year that the work was created however there is no requirement to use that little C symbol the copyright still remains with you at all times so let's move on to registered marks there are two types of registered marks and both of these can be used to protect the sale of products or services for a business the first is the trademark which is used to protect goods or products and the second is a service mark which you would use to protect services that you provide generally though people tend to use the town trademark to cover both our trademark and the service mark for the purpose of this video I will be using the term registered mark which covers both examples of things that can be covered by a registered mark would be a company name a slogan a sound a color under logo once you have that registered mark you have the exclusive rights to use that mark with your product or service it allows you to stop other companies businesses or organizations from using a similar mark to promote or sell a similar product or service what you can't do is you can't prevent someone from using a similar mark if they are using it to promote or sell a dissimilar product or service let's look at this example of two locals one for Sun Microsystems and the other for Columbia Sportswear now visually these two logos are very similar especially if they were both in black for example and you just had a quick glance at the logos the reason that both of these similar logos can exist and be registered as marks is that there are two completely different industries Sun Microsystems is in software and computing and Columbia is in sportswear two very different industries now however let's say Sun Microsystems were in the spa for businesses while then we would have an issue because they would both have similar marks selling or trading similar products this can't happen so what would happen here is that the company that registered their mark first would be able to prevent the second company from registering the mark which is similar to theirs and in a similar industry in its simplest form registered marks are there to help the consumer differentiate between brands and the products and services that they sell if when you try to register a new mark the internal Property Office will look at existing marks and if they feel that by registering your mark this may cause confusion for the consumer when they are looking to buy a product or service from someone who is in the same industry as you they will deny you that registration once you have registered your mark though you can use the little R symbol inside the circle next to your logo or your brand name unlike copyright registered marks can last indefinitely but they do have to be renewed every 10 years one thing that you cannot do is you cannot register a mark and sit it on a shelf for use at a later date for a registered mark to be viable it must be in constant use so those are the main differences between copyright under registered mark or as I mentioned earlier most people just use the town trademark I hope this cleared up any confusion you may have had in the past about the two terms and you can move forward safe in the knowledge that you have the correct understanding for both for more brand and design advice why not join hundreds of other brand rockers who have signed up to my rock your brand monthly email newsletter it's absolutely free and the advice that I give in there will help you to strengthen your brand and stand out from your competition head on over to rock your brand or quote at UK and sign up until I see you next time folks stay creative

Thanks for your comment Denny Engelhard, have a nice day.
- Rene Clouthier, Staff Member

Comment by Certusi4

people when they have a product get confused as to how trademark works a trademark is simply an identification of the source of goods or services it's not the product itself is the source of a product for example Tide laundry detergent tide is the maker of the laundry detergent it's not the actual detergent itself although often trademarks people come to identify them so closely with the product they may substitute the name of the trademark for the product but it's supposed to be a brand and represent the source you obtain trademark rights from actual use in commerce or by registering your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office you can register your trademark what's called an intent to use or ITU trademark application before you have any sales when you've just thought of your idea for a name for example many times people register their trademarks in advance before they their product is fully developed or before they're ready to do sales in fact people will often check online on the intent to use trademarks because they are publicly available publicly available to see what other companies are doing in fact the Apple stores were known before app will announce them because they had several trademarks on file for intent to use for Apple Store and other names related to the store it's a good way to keep a track of what your competitors are doing the best trademarks that you can make or file for our arbitrary and don't have anything to do with the product itself for example Apple is associated with computers now but it an apple itself has nothing to do with computers kodak associated with film very strongly but kodak was a made-up word that the creator of the trademark felt had a strong name and strong sound and so used that as a trademark a trademark such as microsoft all the world-famous trademark is not the strongest trademark because there are a lot of companies that have micro blank or blank soft in their titles because it's not arbitrary it really is associated with product itself so if you are going to have a trademark for your company you can do it in advance and you should think of a name that is arbitrary and doesn't describe the product so closely

Thanks Certusi4 your participation is very much appreciated
- Rene Clouthier

About the author

Rene Clouthier

I've studied television studies at Niagara University in Niagara University and I am an expert in structural sociology. I usually feel nerdy. My previous job was loan officer I held this position for 30 years, I love talking about poker and lacrosse. Huge fan of Jessica Alba I practice parachuting and collect dolls.

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