How to Register Your Own Trademark
A trademark is much more than the official name of your business. It legally protects your business name from being copied by another business. A trademark also protects your business's logo design and any catchphrases you use for your business. While registering a trademark is intimidating, you can streamline the process by ensuring your trademark is yours and yours alone. Use the guide below to get a jump-start on this process. Remember that despite whatever horror stories you may have heard about trademarks, trouble only arises with trademarks when you do not research the uniqueness of your trademark name.
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Instructions
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Decide whether you want to register your trademark as a common-law trademark or a federal trademark. A common-law trademark protects your trademark within your state, while a federal trademark protects it within the entire country. In most all cases, it is better to federally register your trademark, because you may transact with customers and vendors around the country
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Decide carefully on the trademark name of your business. Choose a name that bears no unmistakable similarity to other well-known businesses, even if the line of that other business has little to do with that of your business.
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Search the trademark database of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). On this free database, enter your business's name and see if other businesses bear the same name. Note that this database will only give federal trademarks, not common-law trademarks. This means that you'll have to search your state's trademark database to see whether there are similarly named businesses in your state (go to your state's secretary of state website to find a state trademark database).
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Complete the Federal Trademark application. Complete the "use" application (rather than the "intent-to-use" application), since you've already screened your name for other trademarks. The easiest way to apply is via the USPTO website, by choosing its "Trademarks" section and downloading the application forms.
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Submit your application to the USPTO, including an application fee. Wait for up to nine months to receive a Certificate of Registration. If you have not painstakingly researched the uniqueness of your trademark name, it may take years rather than months to get your trademark registered.
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Keep abreast of your trademark's status after it has been published in the USPTO's Official Gazette. People who believe your trademark is damaging to their own trademarks may file complaints up to 30 days after your trademark has been published. If someone does file a complaint, consult a trademark lawyer on how to contest the complaint.
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Receive your Certificate of Registration from the USPTO. You are free to use the circled R mark alongside your business name to let other parties know you are federally registered. Keep in mind that this registration is good for 10 years until you have to renew it.
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Tips & Warnings
It is an excellent idea to consult with a trademark lawyer before setting out to register your trademark. A trademark lawyer can even walk you through the whole application process, if that is your wish. Ask your friends and family about a reputable trademark lawyer. It never hurts to Google the name of your trademark. Put your business name in quotations to get the most specific results from your search.
Don't forgo searching your trademark name for both federal and common-law trademarks. You'll cost yourself an application fee because if you send a trademark application to the USPTO, the office will always keep your application fee regardless of whether your application is rejected. This fee, naturally, is only a drop in the bucket compared to what you'll pay if you register a trademark that is already taken.
