by Stephen E. Vanyo, Esq.
Protecting one’s intellectual property is essential in this day and age and involves several steps. Here at the Law Offices of Lloyd Z. Remick, we provide assistance to our clients for who intellectual property protection is absolutely essential. In addition to copyright, trademarks are one of the key intellectual property protections that entertainers, athletes, and business owners should secure. Thus, we thought it would be helpful to give a quick explainer article on some of the basics of trademarks.
This article and it’s contents are purely to be used as information guidance and is in no way a legal opinion. Further, no attorney-client relationship exists through this article.
- What is a trademark?
- Generally, a trademark is anything that is used to have consumers identify a particular brand of a product or a service. Names, logos, slogans, colors, and even smells and sounds can be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as trademarks. While there are various states that have their own trademark laws, an official USPTO registration is needed to enforce the trademark throughout the United States. Similarly, just having a social media handle, registered LLC name or a d/b/a name, isn’t enough to be certain you have trademark rights, only a USPTO registration confirms that you actually have a trademark.
- What can’t be registered as trademarks?
- Certain basic words and descriptors can’t be registered as trademarks as the USPTO wants to allow all businesses to be able to use certain terms that are common to their respective industries. For example, no one can have sole use of the word “music” as a trademark. Trademarks that merely describe the service/product also can’t be registered. Finally, the USPTO has “examining attorneys” that will look at registered trademarks to evaluate the application, and deny applications that would create a “liklihood of confusion” with an existing registered trademark.
- What’s the benefit of getting a trademark?
- The first and most important is that it protects your name from being copied by another person or business. Secondly, because all registered trademarks and trademark applications are publicly accessible, it puts others on notice, thereby limiting the chance someone attempts to register a mark that is confusingly similar to your trademark. Additionally, the USPTO now has access to your mark to evaluate other’s applications, and will deny any applications that may be infringing on your mark, thereby reducing your legal costs to protect your name. Finally, having a trademark helps in disputes regarding website “.com” names, and offers increased monetary damages, when pursuing a lawsuit against counterfeiters.
Having a registered trademark is one of the key foundations to starting any new business or career. Whether you wish to register your artist name, film company name, logo, or music producer tag sound, it’s important to hire legal counsel to evaluate the strength of your mark, whether the USPTO would accept your application, and most importantly, whether you run the risk of a lawsuit if you try to register the mark.
For help with trademarks and their registration feel free to contact us at the Law Offices of Lloyd Z. Remick at 215-575-3803 or by email at stephen.zanemgmt@gmail.com