What does it mean if you trademark something [Expert Review]

Last updated : Sept 7, 2022

What is an example of a trademark?

It could even be a sound, a scent, or a color. Some registered trademarks you may recognize include: FORD LOGO for "automobiles." DOMINO'S LOGO for "hot pizza pies."

What are 3 items that can be trademarked?

Non-generic words, logos, slogans, colors, smells, and sounds can all be registered with the USPTO, as long as you can demonstrate how they represent your business. Inventions and works of authorship cannot become registered trademarks and should be protected with patents or copyrights respectively.

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.

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.

What you Cannot trademark?

You can't register a word, phrase, symbol, or design as a trademark without specifically identifying the goods or services being used. Your trademark isn't limited to one good or service. It can be used with many different goods or services, and include both goods and services.

Why is it important to trademark?

Trademarking Protects Your Brand Intellectual property laws exist so competitors cannot steal creative ideas, names, or symbols from other businesses. Trademarking is just good business – it's easy and ensures that other businesses aren't piggybacking off of your hard work and brand building.

What are famous trademarks?

Famous marks are those that have an immediate connection in the minds of the consumers with a specific product or service and the source of that product or service. Examples of famous trademarks are APPLE, COCA-COLA, MCDONALDS and NIKE.

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 can I do with a trademark?

A trademark protects a good or service offered by a company from infringement or damage of reputation by another company. With a trademark, you have legal recourse to sue another company that uses your likeness to further their own business ventures. This includes both registered and unregistered 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 put a Nike logo on a shirt and sell it?

If this is a personal and entirely non-commercial use, then it's just fine. It is not even trademark use in this case. But if you are selling the same, it becomes infringement. many people mark their sports team shirts and jerseys for example.

What is McDonald's trademark?

The word “McDonald's” is a trademark. We call this a standard character text trademark and it would be on its own USPTO trademark application if you wanted a federal registration for it. The Golden Arches is a logo, but this too is serving as a trademark. We refer to this as an image or stylized trademark.

What is a trademark vs copyright?

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.

What does trademark protect against?

What is a trademark? A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights.

What rights do you have with a trademark?

Registering a trademark with the USPTO gives you a legal presumption that you have the right to use the trademark nationwide and prevent others from using a similar mark for the same types of goods or services.

How do I trademark an item?

1. 1) Come up with a unique brand name for your product. “My name is more important than myself.”
2. 2) Perform a trademark search on the selected brand name.
3. 3) File your trademark application with the USPTO.
4. 4) Follow through with the USPTO during the application process.

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.

Why would you trademark a name?

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.

Who needs a trademark?

Business owners that have a distinctive business name, motto, logo, slogan, symbol to represent their product, service or business may want to consider registering it as a trademark from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, a federal agency, and/or a similar state agency.

What is the most valuable trademark?

• Amazon – 416 Billion Dollars.
• Apple – 352 Billion Dollars.
• Microsoft – 327 Billion Dollars.
• Google – 324 Billion Dollars.
• Visa – 187 Billion Dollars.
• Alibaba – 153 Billion Dollars.
• Tencent – 151 Billion Dollars.
• Facebook – 147 Billion Dollars.

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hi i'm stan muller this is crash course intellectual property and today we're talking about trademarks trademarks are everywhere and they can often be confusing so today we're going to talk about why just about everything seems to be trademarked and why trademarks are good for business mr mueller trademarks don't intersect with my life so i really don't see why we need to cover this one it's mueller and two just watch the video a trademark is any word name symbol or device used to identify and distinguish goods from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods even if that source is unknown this bit about unknown sources means that you as a consumer don't usually know the person or factory that actually made the goods you buy before the industrial revolution you often knew exactly who was making your stuff and how it was made if you wanted a hammer you went to the blacksmith and you knew his name it was probably smith these days brand names assure you that you're buying the same product say toilet paper that you bought last time you went shopping you know like the stuff with the ripples seriously though getting the wrong medication because of brand name confusion or counterfeiting could be disastrous the rationale for granting legal protection for trademarks is that they're a type of property it demonstrates to the purchasing public a standard of quality and embodies the goodwill and advertising investment of its owner in other words companies expend a tremendous amount of resources to develop the product market it to customers and provide customer support and back up their product with warranties at its core trademark law functions as a consumer protection measure it prevents consumer confusion and makes it easier for consumers to select and purchase the goods and services they want for example if you go shopping for a new television you don't have to sift through dozens of products that are confusingly similar to samsung knockoffs like samsung or wamsung or sony you want the samsung maybe based on past experience or the company's reputation or even a funny ad because the law protects the manufacturer's use of the trademark you can be reasonably sure that the tv you're picking up at best buy is the tv you saw the verge reporters freaking out about at ces though trademarks are often classified as intellectual property the supreme court held in the 1879 trademark cases that congress has no power to protect or regulate trademarks under the intellectual property clause of the constitution which as you'll recall provides congress with the authority to regulate and protect copyrights and patents but this didn't stop congress from regulating trademarks they used the commerce clause of the constitution which gives them the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states and with the indian tribes beyond trademarks there are also service marks which are very similar in that they distinguish one particular service an example of a service mark is that roaring lion at the beginning of mgm movies it's registered for motion picture production or something trade dress or product packaging is protected if it's distinctive and non-functional like the shape of a nutter butter cookie is protected trade dress what they ought to trademark is the smell some people have registered smells and we'll get to that in a minute trademarks are symbols and since human beings might use as a symbol or device almost anything that is capable of carrying meaning just about any conceivable thing can function as a trademark trademarks can be words like craft or lego logos designs like the nike swoosh aromas like there's a brand of oil for race cars that smells like cherries sounds like bong bong bong or bada or bada papa even though is a registered trademark you can register colors like ups brown or home depot orange or tiffany blue or john deere green personal names like taylor swift t swizzy's name is registered for 61 different goods and services from shoes to christmas tree ornaments even containers like the coca-cola bottle or this perfume bottle shaped like a human skull can be registered in short they can be almost anything that distinguishes the product from others and which signifies the source of the goods despite the breadth of potential trademark subject matter there are some limits on what can be a valid trademark recently a restaurant in texas asserted trademark rights in the flavor of its pizza one of the restaurant's former employees allegedly stole the recipe and opened up a competing pizza joint selling pizzas that tasted a lot like those made by his former employer the judge rejected the claim and dismissed the case finding that it is unlikely that flavors can ever be inherently distinctive because they do not automatically suggest a product source also functional product features are not protectable under trademark law pizza has only one function that's to taste delicious so there are three requirements for trademarks we just discussed the first one that a trademark has to be a symbol or device that a court or the patent and trademark office deems to qualify the second requirement is that the mark has to be used in interstate commerce and the third is that it has to identify the mark owner's goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others it has to be distinctive let's talk about trademarks and what makes them distinctive in the thought window quartz rank trademark distinctiveness along a spectrum ranging from unprotectable to highly protectable at the bottom end of the spectrum is generic generic names refer to stuff like using the word orange for the fruit or dog for the canine or cheese for cheese descriptive terms simply describe the goods and convey an immediate idea of what the product is such as break and bake for scored cookie dough suggestive marks require some imagination or perception to link them to the goods like chic for middle eastern food or fruit loops for a circular fruit flavored breakfast cereal arbitrary marks are common words used in unexpected ways apple for computers or amazon for book sales or shelf for gasoline the most distinctive marks are usually made up words fanciful marks are non-dictionary words such as google for an internet search engine or clorox for bleach or kodak for film fanciful arbitrary and suggestive marks receive automatic protection upon use because they're considered to be inherently distinctive so the owner of the break and bake mark has to show that consumers identify the product with nabisco or pillsbury or whoever makes the product i honestly don't know who makes it which isn't a good sign as to whether it's acquired secondary meaning generic terms are never entitled to protection this becomes important when trademarks are gradually assimilated into the language as common names through a process sometimes called generocide the public comes to view such names as referring to the products themselves rather than as distinguishing the source of the products as a result the name loses its protection words like escalators cel

Thanks for your comment Bradford Schak, have a nice day.
- Shona Tonsall, Staff Member

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 seroper your participation is very much appreciated
- Shona Tonsall

About the author

Shona Tonsall

I've studied thermal engineering at Converse College in Spartanburg and I am an expert in behavioural genetics. I usually feel loved. My previous job was team assemblers I held this position for 2 years, I love talking about compact discs and airsoft. Huge fan of Nicole Kidman I practice trapeze artistry and collect baseball cards.