# Trademark Your Logo?



## Steinbierz (Jan 9, 2018)

Hello,

I was wondering if any of you who have started small businesses and trademarked your logo or name went through a trademark logo during the process?

Merry Christmas!


----------



## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

Yes.
Talk to a copyright/patent lawyer if want the proper solution for your business.
-------------------------------------------------------
FWIW:
There are bascially three types of 'trademarks' for brands or images: 
- Normal Trademark ™ 
- Copyright ©
- Registered Trademark ®

Both the normal trademark ™ and Copyright © are self administered, and defined by 'use'.
Almost any 'brand or image', that has never been used before to describe something similar can be trademarked, or copyrighted. Your incorporation paperwork will include the brand/image and necessary legal statements to define it. Then every time you use the brand, it must have the proper tag ™ or © on it. 
Depending on local jurisdiction, your 'use defined' trademark may or may not be fully protected. 
Not all jurisdictions recognize trademarks created through 'use'.

The registered trademark ® is harder to get, and is the most enforceable trademark. Registering a trademark with USPTO can be time consuming and costly legal exercise. While an individual can apply for trademark registration, you should hire a trademark/copyright/patent lawyer to get you through the process easier and faster. Also the more research you do, and prior art you collect to avoid infringement on others before hiring the lawyer; the cheaper/faster the process will be. 
If your legal team babysits the application (calling the PTO officer every couple of days), can take as little as 8-9 months with zero conflicts. If they sit back and wait for normal government processing, it takes 2-3 years with no/few conflicts.

If you want your trademark registered outside the US, hope you have a lot money and time. Each country has it's own rules, and process.

PS #IAMAKLUTZ, not an expert. In my past product development life, went through the trademark/copyright process roughly 10 times with several different companies. 
YMMV


----------



## BuckeyeDennis (Mar 24, 2019)

+1 on Klutz' advice. I just went through the process for my new company name, and also did it some years back for a product-line brand name.

There's one first step that you can do yourself pretty easily. Check the USPTO TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) to see if your desired trademark is already taken, I had to generate a couple dozen possible company names before I found one that wasn't in conflict with existing US registered trademarks. The IP professionals can do more sophisticated searches than I was able to, but my final choice came up clean in their search as well.

https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database


----------



## Steinbierz (Jan 9, 2018)

Wow…thanks for the great and detailed info. I am just a small start-up father-son business that is doing this as a retirement and maybe something my son can do when he retires from the Coast Guard in three years so am trying to watch what I spend but at the same time try to make the right decisions even if it is going to cost me money.


> Yes.
> Talk to a copyright/patent lawyer if want the proper solution for your business.
> -------------------------------------------------------
> FWIW:
> ...


----------



## Steinbierz (Jan 9, 2018)

Thanks for the info. I played around with this USTPO TESS a few years ago…I need to revisit it!


> +1 on Klutz' advice. I just went through the process for my new company name, and also did it some years back for a product-line brand name.
> 
> There's one first step that you can do yourself pretty easily. Check the USPTO TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) to see if your desired trademark is already taken, I had to generate a couple dozen possible company names before I found one that wasn't in conflict with existing US registered trademarks. The IP professionals can do more sophisticated searches than I was able to, but my final choice came up clean in their search as well.
> 
> ...


----------

