faq

Step 1. Finding What You’re TrademarkingSo the first step is for you to figure out what it is that you want to trademark. And believe it or not, it's probably one of the most important parts of the process because you need to understand. Are you going to trademark...

Trademarks for a Non-Profit OrganizationCan you trademark a non-profit name? Should you bother trademarking your brand if you're a non-profit? I'm Andrei Mincov, and as the founder of Trademark Factory, I often see messages from representatives of non-profit organizations who are unsure if they should trademark their brands. The underlying...

What Are the Similarities?Both trademarks and domain names help people find you and your business. Both trademarks and domain names operate on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning that you can easily check if a certain name is available. But just because it's available today doesn't mean that it won't...

What is the difference between trademarks and trade names, or company names? Trade names, or company names, are designed to identify the company, the business. They are designed to identify YOU. Whereas trademarks are designed to identify a product or a service. And there is a big, big difference. So...

Increase in Federal Trademark Cost ExplainedSo why are they changing the fees? Well—there are a lot of words here but basically, they're changing their fees because they can and because they want to. This will make the cost to file a trademark even more than it already was. Because...

What is a Generic Trademark? What Are Descriptive, Suggestive, Arbitrary, and Fanciful Trademarks?Not all brands are created equal. Some brand names are inherently stronger than others. That depends on where your brand is on the spectrum of distinctiveness—going from generic, descriptive to suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful marks. Watch...

Word marks are basically just that: it is a trademark that contains nothing but words. It can be one word, two words, three words—as many words as you want. But these words would be written in plain characters and they protect the words. They don't protect how those words...

What Is Trademark Use?The use of a trademark, or using a trademark sign, is a legal term that's not really the same as the common-sense use of the word. When I mention somebody's brand, I'm kind of using it. When I say I have an Apple phone or an...

Here’s What HappensThe trademark office does not remind you to renew your registration; they will wait to see if you, the owner, your attorney, your trademark agent, or another interested party reminds you to submit the renewal. The trademark office must regularly “clear out the deadwood” by removing inactive...