Trademark insights on clearance, registration, enforcement, portfolio planning, and risk reduction.
Most trademark problems are preventable. The businesses that end up in expensive disputes, abandon applications, or lose the right to use their own brand names almost always made an avoidable mistake early in the process, usually before they consulted a trademark attorney.
Read MoreA federal trademark registration provides the owner a set of enforcement tools that common law rights alone don't offer. Nationwide constructive notice, a presumption of validity, access to federal court, the ability to record with U.S. Customs, and the potential for statutory damages in counterfeiting cases all flow from registration.
Read MoreThe United States Patent and Trademark Office processes roughly 750,000 trademark applications per year. Each application follows a defined sequence from filing through examination, publication, opposition period, and (if everything goes well) registration.
Read MoreA trademark license is a contractual grant of permission to use a mark in connection with specified goods or services, without transferring ownership. Licensing allows a brand owner to expand into new markets, new product categories, and new territories by authorizing a third party to manufacture, sell, or distribute products bearing the licensor's mark, in exchange for royalties or other compensation.
Read MoreArchitects, owners and developers can benefit from understanding the role that intellectual property law plays in protecting architectural plans and building designs. Copyright law lends itself more to the types of protections that architects would tend to seek, while trademark law is generally more applicable to building or business owners.
Read MoreThe Trademark Trial and Appeal Board handles disputes over the right to register a mark. TTAB proceedings look like litigation in many ways, but the Board can only decide registrability. It can't award damages, issue injunctions, or order anyone to stop using a mark.
Read MoreA trademark is any word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination of these that identifies the source of goods or services and distinguishes them from those offered by others. The name on the label, the logo on the packaging, the slogan in the advertising, and even the distinctive shape of a product or its packaging can all function as trademarks if consumers associate them with a particular source.
Read MoreA trademark clearance search answers one question before a business commits money to a brand name. Can you use this mark and register it without running into someone who got there first? The search comes before the domain registration, before the logo design, before the business cards, before the website, and before the USPTO filing.
Read MoreEvery trademark falls somewhere on a spectrum of distinctiveness that runs from fanciful (the strongest) to generic (the weakest, and unprotectable). A business that picks a strong mark from the start spends less on lawyers and more on growth. Understanding the spectrum is the single most important step a business owner can take before choosing a brand name.
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