Virginia Trademark Attorneys
Nationwide Brand Protection Secured Through Federal Trademark Registration
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.
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. However, your rights in the mark and ability to protect the mark are limited without federal trademark registration.
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.
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.
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.
Support from a Virginia Trademark Attorney
The attorneys in our law firm start the process by consulting with business clients and taking the steps necessary to determine whether a brand name or image is suitable for trademark registration. The analysis requires an understanding of what can be protected and a review of any similar marks that are already registered. Understanding the likelihood of success is a crucial first step to consider before growing a brand.
Growing a brand that cannot be protected, or perhaps worse, infringes on another company’s registered mark can be a costly mistake. Our attorneys empower clients to make informed decisions. We provide support for a reasonable flat fee.
Our attorneys will consult with you, review and analyze the suitability of a mark, and apply for registration for fixed fee of $1,250 (plus the actual cost of USPTO filing fees), so you know what to expect upfront. No one can guarantee registration, but our law firm’s fixed fee model includes certain responses to the USPTO and includes guidance throughout the registration process.
Have questions? Schedule a free consultation.
