Brian Russ Law, Inc. provides trademark registration services for clients in all 50 states, including Georgia.
Examples of Trademark Needs in St. Louis, Illinois
A lot of people ask us, ‘Why do I need a trademark for my business?’ And the simple answer to that is your businesses name, logo, and branding are inherently valuable. You want to ensure that you’ve protected your business as your brand’s value grows and continues to appreciate over time. For example, if you’re in St. Louis, or driving on Interstate 64, you’ve probably seen tons of billboards for corporations and mom-and-pop shops alike. And they’ve all got a certain feel to them, their branding. And that branding is valuable. You want to make sure that if you start a shop in Edwardsville, that somebody two states over isn’t going to steal your idea and name and do the same business.
A great example I love to use is professional sports teams. Their need to have a protected brand name, logo, slogan, and such is invaluable because so much of their team’s value is wrapped up in their identity. There are lots of sports teams, but for fans, there’s always ‘my team’. Think about the teams near Swansea and Godfrey, like the St Louis Blues and the St Louis Cardinals. You can probably picture their logo in your mind, and you know that nobody else is using their names and logos to promote a professional sports team.
What is a Trademark?
It’s important to establish a trademark because it can be used as a marketing tool when building a business. If you don’t have a trademark and another company starts using the same name, they can take over your business with that name. An example of this is if someone creates “Happy Days” for their nursery school – since they aren’t the owner of Happy Days toy store, they won’t be able to stop people from using that name for their nursery schools.
If you want exclusive rights to the trademark for commercial purposes, then you would need to register with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This provides protection throughout the US and associated goods or services, notifying others that you are using the trademark.
What Are the Benefits of Trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office?
Trademarks come from specific companies to identify the company’s goods. They can be used like a logo and are important to register because it gives the company more legal ground against people trying to use their trademark.
For two reasons, it is important to have federal registration of a trademark. This protects against infringement in comparison to only state-registered trademarks and also allows for an increased recovery of damages.
Registering a trademark with the USPTO tells others of your trademark. When conducting a search, unintentional infringement is still actionable infringement.
How to Get a Trademark for a Business
When you trademark your name, you should hire a lawyer to guide you through the process. Lawyers will make sure your trademark is legally registered and will search for any other similar trademarks that might conflict with yours.
We usually don’t recommend that companies try to trademark their products on their own. There are many online services that aim to help secure a trademark without the help of lawyers. We love these services because they make bad decisions, which means more business for us.
We can advise you on how you can best register your application, or if it’s already registered by another company.
Copyright vs Trademark: What’s the Difference?
Trademarking protects a company’s identity by not allowing other companies to use the same name. Trademarks are mainly used for advertising, as when a person sees a product they know where it is from without having to read anything on the package.
Registered copyrights offer additional protection. Copyright infringement becomes a federal crime with the Copyright Act of 1976, and employers must provide ownership information to the US Copyright Office.