Five Important Things to Know Before Filing for a Trademark

Every company irrespective of the size sells their products and services using a brand name, a logo or a tagline. These brand names, logos, and taglines are the intellectual properties of a particular company and thus they have rights to enforce them in case someone else is infringing upon it. However, if you wish to get maximum benefit out of your enforcement it is important to get a protection of these trademarks from the respective trademark office.

With this article, we came up with 5 most important and essential facts those should be known prior to filing a trademark (including mark, image or sound or smell). Below are those points:

Trademark Filing Facts

Do full trademarks search- Doing an effective and full trademark search is important before filing an application with the respective trademark office. A full trademark search will show whether the trademark you are considering worth the trouble of attempting to register or whether you should go back to the drawing board and reconsider the intended mark.

Mark cannot be confusing-The intended mark should not be confusing to an already registered trademark for the same or a similar product or service. If the intended mark is similar to another company’s brand, and you are selling related goods or services, your trademark is weak and you are risking rejection.

It cannot be deceptive- An intended mark which is deceptive, disparaging or offensive will be rejected outright by the trademark office and thus such names should be avoided.

It cannot be merely descriptive- An intended trademark can’t be descriptive in nature, for example, if you run a business of hand-held mobile phones and wish to register the mark “Mobile Stores” as your trademark it would not be possible as it is too descriptive and you can’t simply do unfair trade practices to block your potential competitors.

It cannot be someone else-You can’t simply register a trademark of a celebrity to gain mileage of the popularity of the name. For example, you might have seen USPTO turning down the application seeking to protect the term ‘ObamaPajama’. This application was turned down because the name contained the phrase ‘Obama’ which is a popular name in the United States.

All we can say is that though getting a trademark is the legal right of a person doing business, still, it is not absolute and there are plenty of rules those should be fulfilled prior to filing a trademark.

Trademark Search Monitoring Resources

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