Brian Russ Law, Inc. is a California trademark law firm fixated on helping corporations build and protect their brands and their business. We understand the need to differentiate your brand from your competitors. A small business owner and serial entrepreneur, attorney Brian gets the struggles of small business owners and how securing brand protection is critical when setting your business apart from the competition. Brian works with businesses across 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 Woodland, 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?

Small businesses should spend their time running their corporation and not getting distracted with the intricacies of trademark law, which should be left to a trademark attorney. 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 business, make sure to work with a lawyer who has no problem working in Woodland, like Brian Russ Law, Inc. 

How Can a Trademark Attorney Support Your Company?

A trademark lawyer's job is bedeviling simple - to help companies protect their brand. Businesses 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 protection is a key element for startups - especially those that heavily rely on brand recognition to drive user engagement. 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 Attorney

The worst thing a business owner can do to protect their name is to do nothing. 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 5x the time, money, and effort of doing it right in the first place. 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 counsel for your trademark is the experience of the lawyer, their online reviews, and how personable they are. As an entrepreneur, it's important to find an attorney who you can talk to comfortably about your campaign. This will be the best route for your brand. 

The Top Three Areas Small Businesses Need Trademark Support

1.	BUSINESS NAME REGISTRATION
Creatives often think LLCs and DBA/FBN statements keep their names from being violated and that they are not violating others. This is not accurate. Setting up an LLC or a Fictitious Business Name Statement does not equal trademark protection. The most prudent way to protect a name is to receive federal trademark registration. 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 any business owner to retain a lawyer to assess the trademark risk of using 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 sandwich restaurant on the main drag of Woodland called “Tommy Tequila’s Good Eats” and you spend years establishing your reputation. Your customers know your business and know your brand, but you don’t federally register your brand’s name. Then, you happen to go to Vegas for the weekend, and you find a year-old pub with the same exact name as your business. 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. An even more common – and still tricky – situation is what to do if your name brand name was federally protected by a third party before you started using yours. 
3. INFRINGEMENT STRATEGY.
If you have a brand, then you need a playbook on what to do if someone infringes your brand. It's important to be aware of how your brand might be infringed on by others. When an infringement occurs, sending a demand letter to the offender can make them stop. In other cases, where the offender is purposefully A federal lawsuit may be needed to receive a temporary and permanent injunction to stop the infringer. You can also try to recover damages including lost profits. 

Trademary Lawyer Brian Russ is Here to Serve Woodland Companies

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