Your Trusted Virginia Trademark Attorney
Why build a brand if you can't protect it?
Investing in Trademark Protection
Creating a strong brand is a crucial first step when establishing a unique identity in a crowded market. Having a distinctive name and logo can help a business to stand out and become more memorable to consumers, while also helping to build trust and credibility among customers. Protecting these branding elements with federal trademark registration helps businesses protect their investment and market power by safeguarding their brand identity.
Let a Virginia trademark attorney handle the legal elements while you focus on growing your business.
What is a trademark?
A trademark is a symbol, phrase, design, or combination of these elements that identifies and distinguishes your company’s products or services from your competitors. It is the way consumers differentiate and recognize your brand. The term “trademark” includes service marks, which are used for services while trademarks are used for goods.
Word marks and logo marks (aka image marks) are the two most common types of trademarks.
You become a trademark owner as soon as you start using a word or image mark in commerce to deliver a good or service. Under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq.) trademark owners have the right to restrict, prevent, or limit use of the mark when anothers use of the mark is likely to cause confusion. However, your rights in the mark and ability to protect the mark are limited in geographic scope and legal force until you obtain federal trademark registration.
Scope of Trademark Protection
Trademark protection is intended to safeguard brand identity and consumer trust while promoting fair competition in the marketplace. Federal registration provides the broadest scope of protection available under the law to prevent others from using marks that are confusingly similar. However, there are limits, even federal registration does not provide a right to stop anyone from using the same mark in connection with all goods and services.
Often, businesses can co-exist in different sectors with the same mark or a similar mark. For example, the “Delta” name is used by two fortune 500 companies – and that is okay, because no one is reasonably likely to confuses the airline with the kitchen sink and faucet manufacturer. Further, not all marks can be protected. This is one of the many reasons working with a trademark attorney is well worth the expense.
Searching for a Virginia Trademark Attorney?
The first step in seeking federally trademark registration is to determine if the mark is suitable for registration. This is a two part analysis. First, is it suitable for registration (strong vs weak). Next, are there any confusingly similar marks. There is no one-sized-fits-all approach when it comes to evaluation of a trademark and specialized knowledge is often required.
Benefits of Working with our virginia trademark attorneys
Working with a Virginia trademark attorney at Waldrop & Colvin will allow you to confidently evaluate the likelihood of registration and make adjustments as needed.
In some cases, a trademark attorney may suggest that you tweak your brand name or logo in order to gain protection. Likewise trademark attorneys know how to properly describe goods and services, select appropriate classes, and tailor the application to maximize the likelihood of registration inline with your objectives. However, its more than just the legalities, our Virginia trademark attorneys help you understand the law and your choices, so that you are empowered to make the right decisions.
In many cases, the likelihood of obtaining registration – and the scope and breadth of any protection – is dependent on the trademark application itself. Picking the right classes and providing the right descriptions is often a vital part of the registration process as it can result in a denied application or unintentionally restrict the scope of your trademark protection. This is often where an attorney can pay dividends.
Although the USPTO system is designed to be user friendly, functionality is no substitute for legal know-how. Our Virginia trademark attorneys provide comprehensive support to our clients in reviewing suitability and preparing and submitting trademark applications.
You should also consider that using an attorney the first time can save you money, because few amendments are permitted to the application once it is filed. For example, you can’t add classes or broaden the scope of any description after the initial application is filed.
Our Transparent Flat Fee Approach
We know that one of the most important factors when choosing a trademark attorney is the rate. At the same time, quality and expertise is indispensable. At Waldrop & Colvin, our trademark attorneys provide their evaluation of your mark and submit federal trademark applications for a reasonable flat fee.
Others may offer a fixed rate, but few law firms offer the tailored and personalized legal support our trademark attorneys deliver. We are trusted as Virginia trademark attorney because we provide transparent pricing while maintaining a personalized approach and delivering specialized knowledge that is valuable to our clients.
If you engage our firm, you will work directly with an attorney, you will meet directly with an attorney, and an attorney will file and monitor the application. Our flat fee for 1 word mark and 1 image mark is $1,500. This flat fee includes unlimited consultation on the mark, our analysis, our submission of the application, response to simple office actions, and includes any statement of use filing with intent to use applications. The only exclusions to our flat fee mode is that (i) you pay the actual filing fees and (ii) our rate does not include any substantive USPTO response required based on a non-final action letter relating to likelihood of confusion or an assertion that the mark is merely descriptive. Should this arise, we will meet with you – without any charge – evaluate your options and provide a flat fee for the next steps.
Why is it important to obtain Federal Trademark registration?
Why build a brand if you can’t protect it?
As a business owner, its important to know if your mark is protectable under trademark laws before expending time and capital to build a customer base around a brand name and its important to secure federal trademark registration.
Obtaining federal registration of your trademark offers numerous benefits, including exclusive nationwide rights to use the mark in connection with your goods or services, a legal presumption of ownership that simplifies disputes, and enhanced credibility for your brand. Federal registration also provides an avenue for enhanced damages in infringement cases. Registration can also stop others from forcing you to change your business name if they beat you to the punch.
Our trademark attorneys can assist with state registration, but we typically recommend federal registration because of the breadth and scope of federal registration.
There are Factors to Consider when developing a brand name
A Virginia trademark attorney can help from the ground up when it comes to developing a brand. This starts at ground zero, because not all brand names can be protected through federal registration or otherwise. One of your primary concerns when developing a brand should always be whether the brand name, logos, and slogans are truly yours. Meaning, are your marks even eligible for trademark protection? There are few bright line rules when it comes to the law, and this is equally true when it comes to trademark protection.
However, there are general considerations that must be taken into account. Our Virginia trademark attorneys start by helping you determine if the trademark is likely to obtain trademark protection.
So then, What Trademarks Are Suitable for Registration?
Not all names, logos, and slogans can be protected and not all trademarks are suitable for federal registration.
In some ways, knowing if your brand is suitable for federal registration is equally as important as applying for and obtaining registration. You do not want to spend time and energy to build a business around a brand name and then receive a notice that your brand name infringes on another businesses federally registered trademark. Therefore, determining suitability is an indispensable first step.
When picking a brand name for your business, you should always consider your ability to register and enforce the mark. A full legal analysis is wise. However, there are general factors to consider in determining if a potential name is strong or weak in terms of trademark protection.
Strong Trademarks
Choosing a strong trademark is a critical component of any business strategy, and should be carefully considered. The best brand names for registration and protection are suggestive, fanciful, or arbitrary. Strong trademarks are most likely to be registered, less likely to become diluted, and more likely to be enforceable against competitors.
Suggestive
“Suggestive trademarks” are words that give an idea of what a product or service is like, but don’t directly say it. For example, “Netflix” suggests a company that offers movies or shows over the internet.
Fanciful
“Fanciful trademarks” are born out of pure creativity and imagination. For example, “Nike” or “Wawa” have no meaning aside from identifying their brand.
Arbitrary
“Arbitrary trademarks” are normal words that don’t have anything to do with the products or services being sold by a business. For example, “Apple” has nothing to do with computers, phones, or tablets.
Weak Trademarks
In today’s competitive world, trademarks are essential to differentiate oneself from their competitors. However, certain types of trademarks are weaker than others and therefore, pose challenges to protect against infringement. Moreover, weak trademarks often are not federally registrable. A weak trademark is one that is merely descriptive or is generic.
Descriptive
“Descriptive trademarks” are words that merely describe some aspect of your goods or service. For example, “Delicious Burgers” is merely descriptive. If you obtain any form of registration, it will likely be on the secondary registry and you will have limited ability to enforce trademark rights at least until you can provide acquired distinctiveness.
Generic
“Generic trademarks” are not actually trademarks. They’re merely the common, everyday name for your goods or services. For example, “The Coffee Shop” is generic and is not owned by anyone in particular. You will not be able to protect or register “The Coffee Shop” and if you include elements like this in your name you will be required to disclaim these elements even if the remainder of your business name is suitable for registration.
