Brian Russ Law, Inc. is a California trademark law firm focused on helping corporations build and protect their brands and their business. We get the need to distinguish your brand from your competitors. A small business owner and serial entrepreneur, lawyer Brian understands the worries of small business owners and how securing brand protection is critical when setting your business apart from the competition. Brian works with businesses throughout the Golden State work through common trademarking 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 Silver Lakes, then you’ve come to the right place. You can also visit our trademark-specific website at BrianTheTrademarkLawyer.com.

What Is A Trademark Attorney?

Small businesses should spend their time running their enterprise and not getting distracted with the intricacies of trademark law, which should be left to a trademark lawyer. 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 logo of your company, make sure to work with a lawyer who has no problem working in Silver Lakes, like Brian Russ Law, Inc. 

How Can a Trademark Attorney Empower Your Business?

A trademark lawyer's job is to help businesses protect their brands and make sure other people don't infringe on them. A business is the best placed to protect its name and logo before or shortly after its launch. Our firm's seen many businesses make the mistake of spending tens of thousands of dollars on merchandise and putting in hours of marketing time only to find out 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 users. You can save time and legal costs by calling us to conduct a clearance search prior to launching your brand. 

What To Look For In a Trademark Attorney

The worst thing a business owner can do to protect their name is to do nothing. Doing trademark work without an attorney's support is just as problematic as doing nothing. We find the best trademark lawyers are like our firm - experienced in helping businesses of all sizes from across the globe in a variety of industries. The qualities you should consider when securing legal support for your trademark is the experience of the attorney, their online reviews, and how personable they are. Your lawyer should be someone you can talk to about your brand. The better the synergy, the more your brand will thrive. 

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 company name is trademarked and safe from litigation. This is not accurate. Setting up an LLC or a Doing Business As Statement does not equal trademark protection. Brand protection is stronger with a federal trademark from the USPTO rather than use-based state common law trademark rights. If you want to use your name for your business, you can get governmental approval but those agencies don't verify with the federal trademark database. 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
Brand protection is vital for most small businesses. Imagine this – you start a sandwich restaurant on the main drag of Silver Lakes called “Tommy Tequila’s Good Eats” and you spend years establishing your reputation. You neglect, however, to federally register your business’s name. Imagine going to Las Vegas and finding a new pub with the same name as your business in neon lights. Sadly, your options for enforcement and protection would be limited since you have no federal protection for your brand’s name and the Vegas pub is across state lines. Another difficult scenario is how to deal with a cease-and-desist notice when your brand name is the same as one that was federally registered by another company prior to you using yours. 
3. INFRINGEMENT STRATEGY.
Make sure you have a plan in place to protect your name if someone infringes your brand. There may be cases where others infringe on your trademark without realizing it. When an infringement occurs, sending a cease-and-desist letter to the offender can make them stop. In other cases, where the infringer is intentionally and maliciously infringing your brand, you need to be prepared to take steps to fight them. A state lawsuit might be necessary 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 Here to Serve Silver Lakes Entrepreneurs

The answer is easy – callconnect 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 brand can help you avoid costly mistakes and give you invaluable peace of mind.