When starting a business, protecting your brand is just as important as launching your product or service. One of the most common questions new entrepreneurs ask is: Does forming an LLC protect my business name from being used by someone else? The short answer: No, forming an LLC does not

Who Owns the Copyright?Just because you pay someone to create something for you, to paint an image, or design your logo doesn’t mean you own the copyright or other intellectual property in that image. The creator of any material or image automatically receives copyright protection for their work

Set the Stage Andrei!Initially, when the first trademark laws were being adopted, you could only trademark brands that covered physical products. You couldn't trademark brands to cover services. Then, at some point, they figured out that, hey, the brand is equally important to companies that offer services, they should

THINKING OF TRADEMARKING YOUR BRAND? There are a few things you can trademark: product names, service names, taglines, logos, and a few other things. But product names were the original reason for trademarking. When someone had a product that was legitimate and physical, there was often a brand name attached

If you’re building a brand and considering trademark protection, one of the first questions you’ll ask is: How long does it take to get something trademarked? The short answer: between 12 and 18 months on average. The long answer: It depends on many factors—and it can take

A business name and a logo may need different trademark applications. In the United States, one application covers one mark. Before filing, decide whether you want to protect the wording, a particular design or a combined presentation of both. Word mark or logo markA standard character application covers wording without

An Important Step Trademarking Your Brand: Waiting on a Trademark ExaminerHow much does it cost to apply for a trademark? One of the major assumptions made in that projection is whether or not the trademark is accepted the first time through. If you have to refile, those application fees can

The answer: “Can’t” means one thing, is it legal or not? It should not be surprising that people act illegally. People may still attempt to use your trademark regardless of the law and your trademark protection. However, you have legal recourse should someone infringe on your trademark rights. “Use”

Do You Need to Be Incorporated to Register a Trademark?No, you don't. In most countries, you can register a trademark as an individual whether you have an incorporated business or not, it does not matter. There are some countries out there that may require you to follow a certain

Whose Name Should I Apply For My Trademark With?Typically, big corporations don't ask this question because they have already figured it out. They already know through their corporate lawyers which of their entities should hold onto their intellectual property. Also if you are a one-man show without a company,

Trademark Symbol Copy: Look-Alike and Sound-Alike TrademarksLet's say you come up with a brand, research, and see that someone else has already come up with this idea. Not only did they come up with that idea, but they also trademarked that. And the question is, if you changed your mark

The Microsoft Example: Trademark Services Gone AmuckLet's say I wanted to start a software company, and call it The Microsoft, or replace all O's in the name with zero's and all I's with ones, so it still looks like Microsoft. I could come up with all sorts of, or add

Considering Your OptionsEssentially, there are just 4 radically different ways to do it. You can use an online trademark filing service. You can use traditional law firms and attorneys. You can go with the company I founded, Trademark Factory®; Or you can file your trademarks yourself. And I'm going to

Traditional ServicesYou can use traditional law firms and attorneys. You can go with the company I founded, Trademark Factory®; Or you can use an online trademark filing service. And here, I'm going to explain the benefits and dangers of using such services. I'm also recording videos about the benefits and

THINKING OF TRADEMARKING YOUR BRAND? I get this question all the time, and my answer is always very simple: it really does not matter how much you paid for your brand to be developed. Many of us have brands that we paid nothing for, as we came up with those

Ideally, you want to trademark them both as two separate trademarks because each would protect different elements of your brand. One would protect the literal part of it, the name, and the other would protect the graphic representation of that name. Usually, we get this question when the client does