When you’re getting ready to start a business, you may come across a lot of terms you’ve seen everywhere yet not quite understood. One of these is the word ‘trademark.’
A trademark is a unique word or symbol that represents a product or business. Once the name or symbol has been registered, no other organization is allowed to use them. This is as long as you follow all the legal procedures of registering a trademark and pay the required fees.
If you want to avoid another company taking a name or concept you plan to use, it would be best to ensure that you operate your business continually. If you close it, chances are high that the rules applying to trademarks are no longer viable.
Trademarking is essential for your organization because it helps protect your brand from fraud and counterfeiting. It’s a public guarantee that you own, manage, and exercise rights over your intellectual property.
Do you have a unique idea you’re planning to sell to your target market? Or, are you seeking to establish your brand from the get-go? Here are some tips for getting a trademark for your new company:
1. Choosing A Unique Trademark
The first trademark tip for branding your new business is ensuring that your logo, name symbol, phrase, or color is unique. Since you may not know how to go about the clearance research process, consider hiring professionals to help you search US trademarks and confirm whether the one you’re planning to get already exists.
If the trademark doesn’t exist yet, you can go ahead and submit your concept to claim exclusive rights to it. However, if one already exists, you have to go back to the drawing board and formulate another brand name or logo.
You should avoid skipping the clearance search process if you want to evade rebranding costs. This should save you a lot of time and effort.
Keep the following things in mind when choosing your trademark:
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- Make it appealing.
- Keep it simple and short.
- Make sure that it’s actually unique and embodies your positioning in the market.
- Shun names or concepts that are too generic.
When it comes to choosing a brand name, you get to choose between two types:
- Descriptive: These names let observers in on what kind of product or service your business sells and what overall message you’re trying to convey. For example, a brand name with motors at the end gives people a hint that your brand specializes in selling vehicles, components, and related accessories. Putting a family name along with it suggests that the business is the result of a family endeavor or that you’re dedicating it to your loved ones. This may inspire some people who relate to such sentiments to think about your brand more and want to get invested in it.
- Arbitrary: These are names that don’t seem to be connected to your products or services at first glance. This may be part of a more off-beat manner of promotion or a unique gimmick that sets you apart from your competitors.
2. Seeking Immediate Protection From The Relevant Trademark Authority In Your Area
Once you’ve settled on a trademark, you need to ensure that your country’s trademark office has it officially registered. This is how you make sure that your market and competition know that you have exclusive rights to a name, logo, or concept. This applies to all types of businesses, especially digital ones.
It’s critical to register your startup’s trademark with the relevant regulatory authority as soon as you confirm your idea’s uniqueness. This is because the likelihood of securing one depends greatly on the date of filing the application. So, the earlier you file it, the lower the risk of your competitors getting it before you.
In this regard, it helps to submit an ‘intent-to-use’ application as early as possible. You’re eligible for this application if you’ve established a genuine intention to use a mark even before you actually do it.
3. Have A Clear Vision For Your Company
Avoid limiting yourself to short-term goals. Instead, think about the prospects your business has and where you want it to be in the next five to ten years. Also, consider other areas you want to explore.
You need to know the direction and vision of your company because there are different categories of trademark rights. Each one dictates the scope to which you can use your trademark in your daily operations. To make the most out of it, you must know which one best describes your company.
4. Hire An Experienced Trademark Lawyer
While it’s possible to file a trademark registration on your own, it’s best to work with an expert on trademark laws. The last thing you want to happen is to get forced to scrap your trademarking plans due to a detail you were not able to clarify first.
For this, you can turn to professional trademark lawyers. These people possess a deep grasp of how trademarks work and what you can do to make the process of obtaining one much easier. They’ll also enlighten you on all the regulations surrounding trademark registration, which will help you avoid trouble involving infringement.
Moreover, a trademark lawyer can give you handy insights long after you’ve secured your trademark. You can ask them about other much-needed details as well, such as the problems you’ll face for misusing the TM symbol.
Other things that a trademark attorney can help you with apart from understanding the process are:
- Learning about your business’s legal standing
- Setting clear company goals
- Laying out a strategy to help you register your trademark with no problems
Conclusion
To sum everything up, your startup business should determine the unique identity of your concept, register with the relevant authority, determine your company’s future trajectory and present purposes, and get in touch with a professional trademark lawyer to properly secure a trademark. By following these steps, you should be able to make full use of your ideas to fill a need in your market while achieving growth. Never hesitate to consult experts for better results.