Steps to Trademark Your Business Name

Famous trademarks help define a brand.

A trademark is a symbol or set of letters that represents the reputation of a business or product. The McDonald's "golden arches" is an example. Because it represents business goodwill, a trademark has economic value. Trademark protection is a way of protecting a trademark's value as private property.

Prior Use

A trademark must be actually used in business before it qualifies for protection. It must also be affixed to or closely associated with the product, service or business that it represents, so that the public with identify the trademark with the brand. You must actually use your trademark in commerce before you can register it. Generally, your trademark can only be protected with respect to the product or service category to which it belongs.

Selecting a Mark

Your trademark must be distinct enough for consumers to identify it with your product or service and not confuse it with another product or service. It must also be concrete enough to be represented through graphical means. It must not be in use by another business, unless the other business is engaged in a product or service category different enough from yours to ensure that the public will not confuse the two trademarks. Your trademark cannot be generic; "Apple Computers" is non-generic, for example, but "Apple Apples" is generic.

Registration Procedure

To register your trademark, first perform a trademark search on the website of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), using the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), to confirm that your trademark is not already in use in your product category. This should be done before you use it in commerce, to avoid infringement. After using it in commerce for long enough to associate it with your product in the eyes of the public, create a graphical depiction of your trademark, and file an online trademark application with the USPTO. The filing fee for an electronic application is $325 (as of 2011).

Renewal

You must file a Declaration of Continued Use or a Declaration of Excusable Non-Use between the fifth and sixth year after the registration date. You must file another such declaration between the ninth and the tenth year after the registration date, and every ten years thereafter. The filing fee is $100. You must also file an application to renew your trademark registration every ten years, and submit a filing fee of $400.

References

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Start Here for First-Time Filers
• GGMark: All About Trademarks; Gregory H. Guillot; December 2007