Steps to Trademark your Company Name

Introduction

Trademarking your company’s name is an important step toward protecting your brand, but it’s also a complicated process. The good news is that there are resources available to help you understand the process and make sure you’re filing everything correctly. In this post, we’ll walk through the steps of trademarking your company’s name, from start to finish.

Decide If you Need a Trademark

A trademark is a symbol, slogan, or word that distinguishes your company from its competitors. It can be as simple as a logo or tagline. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) provides information on trademarks; this article will explain what you need to know about them.

Why do I need to register my trademark?

Trademarks are used to protect the economic value of your brand and help prevent others from using your name or logo in an inappropriate way that might confuse customers into thinking it’s coming from or endorsed by you. They’re not a guarantee of quality—just because someone else has filed for a similar trademark doesn’t mean they’ll make better products than you will. The purpose of trademarks is simply to let people know where their purchase came from so they don’t end up being disappointed when they receive it (or worse).

Trademark Search

Clear your name with the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) with a search; you can do this yourself or hire a professional service to do it for you.

A trademark search is a thorough examination of federal and state databases to see if your proposed name is likely to cause any confusion with another company’s existing trademarks. If it does, the USPTO may reject your application. That said, even if there are no existing trademarks that conflict with yours, it’s still important to do a search because many companies aren’t aware that they have a trademark until someone tries to use theirs.

You can perform this search yourself or hire a professional service to do it for you; either way, it’s important that you do one so you don’t waste time trying to get your organization off the ground when someone else already owns the mark.

File your Application and Wait for the Approval

Once you’ve decided on a name, the next step is to file your application with the USPTO. You can do this online through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). The TEAS user guide is updated regularly and provides step-by-step instructions for filing an application using their online system.

Once you have submitted your application, it will be reviewed by a trademark examiner at the USPTO to determine whether there are any conflicts among existing trademarks in use around the world. If there are no conflicts (or none that would prevent registration), then your company name will be published in the Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (OG). It’s important to note that simply publishing your mark doesn’t mean that it’s registered; rather, it just gives other parties notice of its availability if they want to contest its registration later on down the line.

Office Actions

Respond to any “office actions” from the USPTO within six months of receiving them or your trademark will go abandoned.

After your trademark application has been filed, the USPTO will send you a series of Office Actions. An Office Action is basically a letter from the USPTO requesting more information about your application and giving you an opportunity to respond. Responding to these letters within six months is crucial – if you don’t, then your trademark goes abandoned. You’ll also be charged a fee for responding to each office action that arises.

If you do respond, then they will review your response and either send it back with more questions or approve it as-is (if they’re happy with all that was submitted). If they approve it as-is and everything checks out with no further issues identified by them, then congratulations! Your company name is officially protected under U.S. law.

Keep your Trademark Current

Once your trademark is approved and registered, keep it current. You’ll have to renew every 10 years at a .minimum. To keep your registration active, you can either renew online or by mail.

You’ll need to pay a maintenance fee every 10 years for this purpose. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) charges $400 per class of goods or services for the first renewal period (e.g., if you’re registering a trademark for “clothing” in Class 25 and it’s a new mark, then you’ll pay $400). In subsequent renewal periods (e.g., during the second decade), fees will increase incrementally each year until they reach $800 per class in 2021; they will continue increasing with inflation thereafter until 2031.

Takeaway

In addition to coming up with a great business name, a trademark can be an invaluable asset to your company. It is a mark that identifies your brand, thereby helping you to distinguish yourself from competitors.

The process of obtaining and maintaining a trademark registration can be complicated. A registered label affords you some legal rights over the use of the word or design associated with it, but there are also many rules that must be followed if you want to keep your registration active and enforceable.

Conclusion

Trademarking your company name is a great way to protect the brand identity and ensure you are the only one using it. Trademarks can also be used as a marketing tool, allowing you to build trust with potential customers while ensuring they know exactly who they’re dealing with. If this sounds like something you’d like more information on, don’t hesitate to reach out! We would love to help guide you through this process.