Trademarking your business name in the United States is achieved by obtaining a federal trademark registration from the Unites States Patent and Trademark Office. A federal trademark registration gives the trademark owner exclusive rights to use their trademark in relation to their goods or services. Federal trademark registrations are an incredibly valuable asset for protecting your business name, thus it’s a no-brainer to pursue for those who are serious about their business.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO REGISTER A TRADEMARK?
The USPTO takes about 1 year to process a trademark application from start to finish, assuming no issues arise. If your application is granted, your business name will remain trademarked for 5 years, at which point a renewal and affidavits will become due attesting to your continuous usage of the trademark. Part of our service involves docketing renewal and maintenance notifications for our clients so their trademarks remain registered without defaulting (a common occurrence for those without a trademark attorney).
WHAT DOES THE TRADEMARK APPLICATION PROCESS LOOK LIKE?
Our process starts with conducting a professional clearance search. The search results indicate trademark availability and trademark filing strategy based on potential conflicts. Once the issues are located (and there are usually a few), the application is drafted and filed with the USPTO in way that will give it the best chance for success. After about 4 months of waiting, the fun part begins when the USPTO does their initial substantive review. Here, we must respond to legal office actions, amend the application, provide additional information, and anything else the USPTO requests in order to get the application to the remaining stages of the application process and ultimately published for opposition.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO REGISTER A TRADEMARK?
Legal fees for trademark applications vary depending on the experience of the attorney and the service they provide. Our service includes the filing fees that are paid to the USPTO as well as our legal fee for conducting the trademark search, responding to office actions, and our full representation throughout the application process. Junk services such as Legalzoom typically assist pro se applicants file applications on their own, but do not provide legal advice nor representation throughout the process. This is obviously a problem for non-lawyer with no experience filing trademark applications with the federal government.
If you’re interested in a free phone consultation for more information about trademarking your business name contact us!