Michael J. Foycik Jr., Esq.

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WHY TRADEMARK. . .

to sell a business
to attract investors
to stop competitors
to protect a web site domain name

What you can trademark:
a word, phrase, or slogan
a logo or design

Competitors can trade on your good name. Unless, that is, you have strong trademark rights. And what rights are those? The best trademark rights would be based on a federally registered trademark.

If you want to protect your company's web site domain name, you will need to be able to prove trademark rights in the name itself. There is no surer way than ownership of a federally registered trademark, which can usually confer nationwide rights.

There are other trademark rights too: state registrations, and common law trademark rights. Those may be very worthwhile too, but may not have national scope.

Common law rights sometimes require proof of instances of actual confusion, but even then there is a question of proving priority, i.e. who was first.

This brings us to federal trademark rights. In advertising, you may see a trademark followed by the symbol “R” in a circle. That indicates that the trademark is federally registered. A trademark followed by the symbol “TM” indicates that the owner wishes to claim common law trademark rights, or has other trademark rights.

A good trademark can help any business, and a successful one also attracts investors and can help when selling your business. Without a trademark, there is often nothing of value to sell.

Considering a trademark?
A trademark search is strongly recommended. Skill is required in interpreting the results, since even identical trademarks can be registered if they are in sufficiently different classes of goods/services.

To get started now:
No money is needed to get started. Once we receive the above-noted information for a trademark application, we perform a free, informal search of the trademark records and advise if a serious obstacle exists in the form of a prior similar trademark application. There is no cost or obligation for this. An experienced trademark attorney reports the results of the informal search.

Once you authorize it, we prepare the draft trademark application for signature and send it for signature. The applicant then signs, dates, and returns the draft trademark application, together with the official government filing fee and our service charge.

Our fees are very competitive, and affordable.
There is no risk or obligation. Call for a quote, or use the convenient inquiry form.

The author is a patent attorney with over 28 years experience in patents and trademarks. For further information, please email at IP1lwyr@gmail.com, or call at 877-654-3336.