Do It Yourself Trademarking
Easy as 1, 2, 3...
Search your brand name before you go to market!
Want to stop copy cat listings for your products on Amazon, or prevent your storefront from being fraudulently reported & shut down by competitors?
To get started in Amazon's Brand Registry, you must have at least a trademark application pending at the USPTO to be eligible.
Registered trademarks owners at the USPTO can stop others from using their trademark in Google Ads. Enforcing your trademark in Google Ads can save you THOUSANDS in your monthly ad spend.
A trademark can be a word, phrase, slogan, logo, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services. It is how consumers recognize you, your brand or company in commerce. Your trademark helps to distinguish you from your competitors within the marketplace.
What is a trademark vs. a registered trademark?
As soon as you begin using your trademark in connection with your goods or services in commerce you establish rights and become a trademark owner. However, those rights are limited to the geographic area you are providing your goods or services in. By filing and receiving a registered trademark at the USPTO you are provided broader rights and protections than an unregistered trademark.
The TM or ® symbols put consumers, and more importantly competitors, on notice that you are using or claiming the trademark as yours. You can use “TM” symbol in connection with your goods or services even if you have not filed a trademark application at the USPTO.
No. A common misconception by people is that by having a registered trademark that you legally own a particular word or phrase and can prevent all others from using it. However, this is not necessarily the case. You do not have rights to the word or phrase in general, only for how that word or phrase is used in connection with your specific goods or services.
What happens after you file your trademark application at the USPTO?
After you file, your application will be assigned to an Examining Attorney at the USPTO in approximately 10-11 months. Please see the USPTO’s Trademark Processing Wait Times for a better estimate.Please see the USPTO’s Trademark Process article for a step-by-step guide.From there, if the Examining Attorney identifies any issues with your application, you may receive an Office Action (an official notification that there is a problem with your application), to which you will be required to respond in order to move your application forward.After any issues identified have been resolved, your trademark will then be scheduled to publish in The Trademark Official Gazette. This is a weekly USPTO publication that lists newly published trademarks as well as canceled and renewed registrations.
During this 30-day publication period, other trademark owners may come forward to formally oppose your application, for example, if they feel your trademark is too similar to their own. If no one opposes your trademark during this period, your application will move forward to registration if you filed as “in use in commerce,” or you will be issued a “Notice of Allowance” if you filed an “intent-to-use” application instead.
What is a “Statement of Use?"
A “Statement of Use” is required on an “Intent-to-Use” trademark application, after you receive a “Notice of Allowance” to move your application forward to registration. In this filing, you will submit specimens to the USPTO proving you are using your trademark in commerce for all of the listed goods or services in your application. The USPTO charges a filing fee of $100/class of goods or services.
The USPTO grants a maximum of 5 extensions per “Intent-to-Use” trademark application, for an additional 30 months of time to bring your trademark to commerce. However, each Extension of Time filing has a fee of $125/class of goods or services.
Once your trademark registers at the USPTO, you are required to maintain your registration by filing regular renewals and updating the USPTO with any changes to your trademark registration.
Changes to your address, ownership, or if you are no longer selling some or all of your listed goods or services, need to be reported to the USPTO.Any goods or services no longer in use, need to be promptly deleted from your registration by filing a Section 7. Click here to read more from the USPTO.
The USPTO requires that you file a renewal on your trademark registration between the 5th and 6th year anniversary of your registration date. This filing is known as a Section 8 Declaration of Use or Excusable Nonuse. You may also file at this time a Declaration of Incontestability under Section 15 if your trademark qualifies.
After your first renewal, you will need to file every 10 years thereafter, with the next required renewal landing between your 9th and 10th year anniversary of registration. This filing is known as a Declaration of Use or Excusable Nonuse and an Application for Renewal Under Sections 8 & 9.
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