Everything You Need to Know About Filing a Trademark
Having a registered trademark is one of the most valuable assets of your brand. Over 400,000 trademark applications have been filed in 2022 alone. That equates to a few thousand business owners PER DAY that are filing to protect their brands.
This means the chances of your application getting approved decreases every day. The more applications out there, the more likely it is that there will be someone else filing a trademark somewhat similar to your brand.
If you are thinking about filing for a trademark, here is everything you need to know about the process so that you can make the decision to file as soon as possible because a trademark is not an expense. It’s an investment in the future of your brand.
What is a trademark?
Straight from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website, “A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services.” Think of your brand identifiers (like your business name, a product line, a course name, a program, logo, etc.). These are the things that can be trademarked.
Before coming up with a name for a new business, program, course, podcast, etc., you should be doing at least a very basic trademark search.
What’s the benefit of filing a trademark?
A trademark helps your clients, customers, and consumers identify you and separate your goods and services from others. A lot of people think that branding comes first in their business, but without a trademark, you don’t own your business name, your logo, etc. So, why would you want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on branding when you don’t own it yet?
Having a trademark means owning your brand and offers you protection! When you’re building a brand, you want to stand out. You want customers to know your brand is yours. You don’t want them to confuse it with someone else.
In the online space, you may think that confusion won’t happen, but it can. A trademark will protect you from someone whose name or brand name is so similar that it might confuse your clients.
Does my brand need a trademark?
Usually, my answer is, “It depends.” Every business owner likely has at least 1 mark in their business to trademark, and probably even more. Answer these 3 questions and you’ll probably see that it’s time to take your business seriously enough to protect it with a trademark.
Do you have something to trademark that you see yourself using for a while? (It’s not something temporary.) This could be anything from your business name, slogan/tagline, course or program name, podcast name, logo, product line, or shop name.
Would you be upset if another brand used the same name as you? (Or something very similar).
Would you be upset if you were forced to rebrand? This could happen if someone else ends up filing a trademark similar to your brand first and forces you into rebranding. Not only can they send you a Cease and Desist letter, but they can sue you for the profits you made using their trademarked brand.
How long does it take to register a trademark?
The process takes about a year (and even up to 18 months according to the USPTO), so the best time to schedule your consultation was yesterday and the next best time is today.
Don’t wait to try to get brand ownership until it’s so difficult that you have to spend thousands more fighting over it.
When should I file for a trademark?
As soon as you think you need a trademark! If a copycat pops up and you haven’t even filed yet, you have a LONG WAY to go before you get ownership. Ownership is something you want before a copycat pops up.
Not all copycats are purposely trying to rip off your brand. Some may have no clue you exist. But if they file before you, get your wallet ready because you’ll either have to rebrand OR pay thousands just for the chance to fight your brand.
I have a client that started using her brand name a few years ago, but she waited to file her trademark. Someone else filed something similar to hers (not exactly the same) 2 weeks before she did. They’re not using it yet, but they just had an idea and filed for a trademark.
Because of this, she will likely now have to pay thousands more. Just for a small chance to keep her brand. So what’s the best time for filing a trademark?
File before someone else gets there first. File before a copycat pops up. File before a copycat confuses your customer. Filing as early as you can is best. You don’t need to have made 6 or 7-figures. You just need a brand you like and want to OWN.
What’s the difference between an LLC and a trademark?
The purpose of an LLC is to separate your personal assets from business assets so that if something went wrong (such as you being sued), your personal assets would be protected. They wouldn’t be subject to liability like your business assets would.
However, the mistake people make is thinking your LLC gives you any protection for your name. IT DOESN’T! An LLC has nothing to do with ownership of that name.
You can name your LLC anything (that’s allowed in your state). Name it 123 LLC, it doesn’t matter. But if you register your LLC in one state, anyone in the other 49 states can have the same exact LLC name as you. Additionally, even in the state you’re registering, LLC naming is very different from trademark naming requirements so people can have very similar LLC names.
This is why you need a trademark - so you can obtain ownership over your brand. With a trademark, you can’t have 2 marks in the same or related field with confusingly similar names. For example, you can have Dove chocolates and Dove deodorant because the goods or services are not related.
That being said, what this means for your brand is that once you have registered a trademark, another business cannot have the same name as you (within the same or related goods/services) or even a name that is confusingly similar to yours.
What are the costs associated with filing a trademark?
That depends on whether you are a proactive business owner or a reactive one! A proactive business owner can save themselves time, a lot of money, and a lot of stress. Let’s take a look at a few different scenarios.
Being a proactive business owner and getting a trademark as early as you know there’s something in your brand worth protecting will cost you:
$97 consultation with me
$2,500 legal fees
$250 filing fee (per class of goods/services)
Being a reactive business owner and waiting until a copycat pops up:
$97 consultation with me
$2500 legal fees
$250 filing fee (per class of goods/services)
$750+ cease and desist (either during the trademark process, which can be risky or after)
Prayers that they don’t file before you
STRESSING for a year waiting until you have the trademark
Crossing your fingers that the copycat doesn’t oppose your application (~$25,000+)
Being a reactive business owner and waiting until someone else files first:
$97 consultation with me
~$5,000 if you’re giving up and rebranding
$2,500 legal fees if we file anyway
$250 filing fee (per class of goods/services)
~$1,000 responding to the refusal you get because of their application
Prayers that the argument is accepted (it likely won’t be if it’s a similar name in similar goods/services) PLUS prayers that they don’t oppose your application now (~$25,000+)
STRESS because now it’s been over a year since you filed
Personally, I’d rather be proactive and protect my brand. And I would much rather you put your money towards building your business from the get-go rather than fighting for your brand simply because you waited too long to own it!
Schedule a consultation here so we can get started!
How do I file a trademark?
While you can certainly file a trademark application without an attorney, I wouldn’t recommend it. Per the USPTO, filing a trademark with an attorney is more than 50% more likely to succeed. Why? There is a higher chance that a DIY application (or ones filed through Legal Zoom) has mistakes, isn’t able to register at all, or ends up needing to seek a trademark attorney to fix it.
The full search that trademark attorneys, like me, do before filing (not the basic one that you might do), is the most important part of the process. We assess the risk of your mark, which takes time and experience (that we’ve spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on).
We also make sure your application gets filed into the right class(es) of goods and services and that the proof we are filing is not going to cause problems for you years down the line if someone tries to claim rights to your mark. Trademark attorneys file your application thinking about all the what-ifs.
Ready to move forward with filing a trademark? Take the guesswork and stress out of the process and schedule a consultation here!