A trademark can constitute almost any word, slogan, logo or a combination thereof that is used by a business to distinguish its goods or services from other businesses. As a business owner, entrepreneur or inventor, you want to protect your business and your ideas. The majority of trademark registration requests that we receive are for words, or words with a logo, which represent a company and its products or services. Although trademarks are not required to be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in order to be enforceable, doing so provides a business with significant benefits that it is otherwise not entitled to. I will address the pros and cons to registering a trademark with the USPTO and also to using an attorney to do so.

The biggest advantage to Federal trademark registration is that the registrant is entitled to legal presumption of ownership and is further entitled to the exclusive right to use the mark nationwide for the goods or services the mark is registered for. This prevents others from claiming that they were unaware of your mark and were using it in “good faith” after your filing date. Registration also puts others on notice that you own the mark, and permits you to file a lawsuit in Federal court to enforce the mark’s use and production. Federal court is advantageous for various procedural reasons, but Federal registration also makes it easier to establish jurisdiction in Federal court if necessary.

If you register your mark, the mark is added to the USPTO’s publicly accessible database. In a matter of seconds, another business owner could search for a few terms and learn that you already own the mark that she wanted to start using. The USPTO will also likely deny a future mark-registrant from receiving a mark for something you already federally registered. Finally, if you register your mark with the USPTO you can use the “®” symbol to signify to others that your mark is registered and that you are serious about enforcing it.

If you are interested in registering a mark, you can register it (a) before you actually use it (if you have a bona fide intent to use) and “reserve” the mark for three (3) years; or (b) if the mark is being used in commerce. It is best to hire an attorney who provides trademark and other intellectual property registration services because he or she can discuss the proposed mark and/or logo with you to determine whether the mark is likely to be approved by the USPTO. The attorney can perform a search to determine whether the mark is already being used, and he or she can subsequently file the trademark applications and submit the necessary specimens. Finally, if you discovered that someone else was using your registered mark, you should consult an attorney to send a cease and desist letter or to file infringement litigation.