For many established businesses, its most critical asset is its brand. When one considers some of the most prominent brands today, it becomes clear that minus the exclusive use its owner enjoys over it by virtue of trademark laws, all goodwill that the business advantages from is lost. Whether it's the key company brand, its logo(s), or one of many other trademarks a company uses available on the market to recognize its various goods and services, protecting these valuable trademark assets is certainly one of the most crucial items that any business should address.
So where does one turn to ensure its trademarks are protected to the most extent allowed by law - put simply, how do you figure out the clear answer to "how do I get yourself a trademark" for words, logos or virtually anything that could distinguish the source of your products and services from that of others? The procedure to getting this protection for a trademark in the United States involves registering the trademark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). There are many options.
It's possible to turn to a law firm. This is really the most expensive option. Trademark attorneys at law firms generally charge by the hour and, with regards to the size of the firm, hourly rates can range between $250 to $600. Given the uncertainties mixed up in trademark registration process, this may soon add up to an embarrassing surprise when all is said and done.
Unfortunately, lots of people utilize the services of so-called document filers, like the giant of a, LegalZoom. This is never the right choice. It is a little known fact that these services don't in fact register your trademark. They merely file a credit card applicatoin with the data that you provide for them without any legal review or follow-up. If you are thinking of using such a "garbage-in, garbage-out" service, you might as well save your cash by eliminating the middleman and doing it yourself.
It's possible to attempt to register a trademark on one's own. In fact, anyone can represent oneself in just about any legal proceeding, but it is the rare individual who is willing to take on the task of "playing lawyer" ;.The trademark registration process is fraught with potential snags that only a skilled trademark attorney can navigate. An experienced trademark attorney knows the law and the "tricks of the trade", and has had significant experience with the USPTO - thus being in a position to most accurately evaluate the outcome of choices to be produced and arguments to present in order to get the ultimate prize of a registered trademark for her client.
So, now it should be clear that the experienced trademark registration search attorney is the smart choice for how exactly to trademark your brand(s) - but how do you find one? The best deals are online. There are numerous trademark attorneys with websites through which you may engage the attorney to initiate a trademark application. There are many key things to appear for. An outline of each one of these follows.
While many trademark registration attorneys will advertise an appartment fee, be cautious about this claim. The vast majority of so-called flat fee trademark registration services excludes certain work, and will instead charge an hourly rate for this excluded work. The most significant work charged by the hour is the task involved with giving an answer to "substantive" trademark office actions issued by the USPTO. It is very common for the USPTO to at least issue an original refusal to register your trademark based using one of many statutory provisions of the trademark law that place restrictions of what may and may possibly not be registered as a trademark. A reply to a trademark office action can be quite a very frustrating process. You want to make sure that that is contained in the advertised flat fee. Virtually always, it is not but you will find one by using well thought out Internet searches. Other types of work are similarly often excluded from the flat fee, including submitting certain types of evidence, filing certain necessary forms during the brand registration process.
Virtually all of the flat fee trademark attorney websites only allow you one class of goods or services included in the flat fee. Often it is the case your products and services will belong to more than one class. Search for an attorney who includes at least three classes in the flat fee. These records is often not easily found except in the fine print. Just like importantly, consider the official fee that the attorney is claiming you will have to pay to the USPTO for each class. Most often you will soon be told that the fee is $325. Truth be told that the USPTO charges $275 per class, but to get this fee, the trademark attorney has to complete a little more work in order to select items and services from the state list given by the USPTO. In nearly every case, this lower fee could be obtained but you'll not be told. This can add up to a serious savings for multi-class trademark applications.
A required step in the trademark registration process is the trademark search. This maximizes the chances your trademark will not be refused because of prior conflicting trademark or there are any prior common-law trademark rights owners that could take legal action against you even though you have the ability to register your trademark. You want to make sure that you obtain a comprehensive search which includes not just a look for identical trademarks that are registered but in addition common law trademarks, business names, domain names, and most importantly, any trademark that may possibly not be identical yet nonetheless will soon be considered "confusingly similar" to yours. For example, in a recently available decision of the court that reviews decisions of the USPTO, the trademark JOTS (for gelatin based alcohol based "shots") was deemed to be confusingly just like the trademark TOTT'S (for champagne). Just a good trademark search international performed by a skilled trademark attorney would have discovered this problem before any money was wasted on the process.
This is perhaps obvious but you ought to still make sure you know whom you are working with. You'll desire to observe that the trademark attorney's credentials are detailed on her behalf website. It's also advisable to look for an attorney who is willing to supply free consultations and who offers multiple way of communicating with her (email, phone, forms, etc.). For the fixed fee, a trademark attorney ought to be willing to invest as much time communicating with you as necessary. The trademark registration online process is a very collaborative one where the attorney will often need much information from you in order to get the job done in ways that maximizes your chances of obtaining your trademark registration. This often requires lots of back and forth between the attorney and the client. A good trademark attorney is skilled at explaining sometimes confusing aspects of trademark law and practice in a clear and concise manner for you.
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