Brian Russ Law, Inc. is a California trademark law office centered on helping corporations build and protect their brands and their business. We appreciate the need to differentiate your brand from your competition. A small business owner and serial entrepreneur, attorney Brian sees the difficulties of small business owners and how securing brand protection is vital when setting your business apart from the competition. Brian works with corporations throughout the Golden State work through common branding issues like clearance searches, infringement assessment, trademark registration, USPTO office action responses, infringement litigation, use defense, and more. If you’re looking for top-notch trademark legal advice in Santa Barbara, then you’ve come to the right place. You can also check out our trademark-specific website at BrianTheTrademarkLawyer.com.
Santa Barbara’s Trademark Attorney
What Is A Trademark Attorney?
Small businesses should spend their time running their company and not getting tied up with the intricacies of trademark law, which should be left to a trademark attorney. Trademark lawyers typically have experience in the entire trademark lifecycle from the critical clearance search all the way through litigation support. When choosing a lawyer to protect you’re the brand of your corporation, make sure to work with a lawyer who has no problem working in Santa Barbara, like Brian Russ Law, Inc.
How Can a Trademark Law Firm Empower Your Company?
A trademark attorney’s job is bedeviling simple - to help creatives protect their brand. Companies are in the strongest position to protect their brand if they think about brand protection pre-launch or shortly after their launch. The amount of money companies spend on start-up products and marketing is enormous, and sometimes, they find out that their preferred name can't be used because another competitor has locked up the name. Intellectual property is a critical issue for startups, especially when the brand and recognition are primary drivers of revenue from target users. If you need to get the name of your business trademarked, give us a call.
What To Look For In a Trademark Attorney
Doing nothing to protect your name can cause problems for a business owner. Doing trademark work without an attorney's support is just as problematic as doing nothing. We find the best trademark lawyers are like us - experienced in helping businesses of all sizes from across the globe in a variety of industries. When you're looking for legal counsel for your trademark, the most important things are their experience and how personable they are. To have the best synergy for your brand, it’s important to find a lawyer who you feel comfortable talking with.
The Top Three Areas Small Businesses Need Trademark Support
1. BUSINESS NAME REGISTRATION
A lot of creatives think that setting up an LLC or a DBA/FBN statement means their name is trademarked to protect from litigation. This is not true. Setting up an LLC or a Fictitious Business Name Statement does not equal trademark protection. The Secretary of State and your county recorder don’t cross-reference your business name with the trademark database. So you can get the Secretary of State and county approval to use your business name, but you’re still exposed to potential trademark infringement liability because your name might infringe on someone’s trademark. It's important for a business owner to retain legal counsel to help them assess the risks and benefits of their business name.
2. BRAND PROTECTION
Small businesses have a lot to worry about, but brand protection should not be one of them. Imagine this – you start a burger restaurant on the main drag of Santa Barbara called “Tommy Tequila’s Good Eats” and you spend years establishing your reputation. You neglect, however, to federally register your business’s name. Then, you happen to go to Vegas for the weekend, and you find a new diner with the same exact name as your business. Without federal trademark protection, you are limited when it comes to enforcement and protection, meaning there’s little you could do to stop the Vegas pub from using your name. An even more common – and still tricky – situation is what to do if your name brand slogan was federally protected by a third party before you started using yours.
3. INFRINGEMENT STRATEGY.
It is important to have a plan in place in case someone infringes on your name. There may be cases where businesses infringe on your trademark without realizing it. In some cases, the infringer will stop when a law firm sends a letter demanding that they stop. willfully and maliciously infringing your brand, you need to be prepared to take steps to fight them. A state lawsuit may be needed to obtain a temporary and permanent injunction to stop the infringer. You can also try to recover damages including lost profits.
Trademary Attorney Brian Russ is Available to Serve Santa Barbara Creatives
The answer is easy – contactconnect with} Brian Russ Law, Inc. today. We’re fielding inquiries from potential new clients every day. Having an lawyer on your team to protect your logo can help you avoid costly mistakes and give you invaluable peace of mind.