Trademarks: The What and Why

Your brand is often the most valuable thing your business owns. Your name, logo, slogan, or product packaging tells customers who you are and why they should choose you over everyone else. Trademark law protects that connection between your brand and your customers by stopping others from using names or marks that could confuse the public about who is behind a product or service. Rights begin when you use your mark in commerce, but those common-law rights are usually limited to the area where you actually do business.

Federal registration with the USPTO gives you much stronger footing: nationwide notice of your ownership, a legal presumption that the mark is yours, the right to use the ® symbol, and powerful tools to stop copycats, counterfeiters, and infringers. A trademark is also an asset you can license, sell, and build value in. But protection isn’t automatic or permanent. You have to choose a mark that can be protected, use it consistently, and police it, or you risk weakening it or losing it altogether.

Protect your brand!

Mr. Grosland’s practice includes trademark registration, renewals, incontestability and renewal calculation, maintenance filings, enforcement and rudimentary mark search. If you want to protect your brand, make sure start early by seeking guidance of a trademark lawyer.

Why you should not handle trademarks by yourself

Trademark law is more complicated than simply filing a registration. Not knowing the intricacies of choosing your mark, using it, and enforcing it, can result in your brand being compromised or even being designated as worthless. Answering these questions before you start using your brand in commerce is critical and should not be overlooked.