Brian Russ Law, Inc. is a California trademark law office fixated on helping businesses build and protect their brands and their business. We get the need to distinguish your brand from your competition. A small business owner and serial entrepreneur, attorney Brian hears the struggles of small business owners and how securing brand protection is vital when setting your business apart from the competition. Brian works with businesses across California work through common brand 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 guidance in Shackelford, then you’ve come to the right place. You can also learn more at our trademark-specific website at BrianTheTrademarkLawyer.com.

What Is A Trademark Attorney?

A trademark lawyer is a attorney who specializes in practicing in the field of trademarks. Trademark attorneys can generally do most work on a flat-fee basis and operate independently of the larger firms that bill too much for too little. 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 Shackelford, like Brian Russ Law, Inc. 

How Can a Trademark Lawyer Support Your Company?

A trademark attorney’s job is bedeviling simple - to help companies protect their brand. Businesses are in the best position to protect their name if they take a proactive strategy. Our firm's seen so many businesses drop hundreds of thousands of dollars on merchandise and marketing only to find that they can't use their preferred name. Intellectual property is a critical issue for startups, especially when the brand and recognition are primary drivers of revenue from target markets. Give us a call if you want to lock down your company’s brand with federal trademark protection. 

What To Look For In a Trademark Lawyer

Doing nothing to protect your name can cause problems for a business entrepreneur. Even though it's easy to do some trademark forms on your own, you are at risk of doing something wrong and cleaning up the mess will take 10x the time, money, and effort of doing it right in the first place. A good United States trademark lawyer can help any size company in any industry across the globe secure trademark protection in the United States. 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
We commonly see entrepreneurs think that setting up an LLC or filing a DBA/FBN statement means their business name is trademarked and safe from dispute. This is not correct. Securing an LLC or a Fictitious Business Name Statement does not equal trademark protection. The problem is that the Secretary of State and your county recorder don’t cross-reference business names with the trademark list. So you can get their clearance 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 any business owner to retain a lawyer to assess the trademark risk of using their business name. 
2. BRAND PROTECTION
Most small businesses need to protect their brands. Imagine this – you start a sandwich shop on the main drag of Shackelford called “Tommy Tequila’s Good Eats” and you spend years building 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 brand new restaurant 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 diner from using your name. An even more common – and still frustrating – situation is what to do if your name brand logo was federally protected by a third party before you started using yours. 
3. INFRINGEMENT STRATEGY.
Make sure you have a strategy in place to protect your brand if someone infringes your brand. There may be cases where others infringe on your trademark without realizing it. Sometimes, having a law firm send a cease-and-desist notice to the infringer will make them stop. If someone is intentionally ripping off your trademark identity to make themselves rich, then you will need to take steps to stop them. You might need to file a lawsuit for a temporary injunction and/or permanent injunction to stop the infringer. You can try to recover lost profits as well. 

Trademary Attorney Brian Russ is Here to Serve Shackelford Companies

The answer is straightforward – contactconnect with} Brian Russ Law, Inc. today. We’re fielding calls from potential new clients every day. Having an lawyer on your team to protect your brand can help you avoid costly mistakes and give you invaluable peace of mind.