If you’re a small business, you may wonder is it worth filing a trademark. That depends on how devoted you are to your company and the brand that you’ve worked hard to develop and build.
Consider this: after working hard to start your business and build your brand, a company with thousands, if not millions, of followers decides to use a similar or even identical trademark, leaving your company in the dust.
Now what do you do?
It’s simple: if you’ve already filed your trademark, your trademark attorney can help you get the other company to stop using your intellectual property. But if you haven’t, the reverse is true. That company may have full use of your trademark—especially if they’ve filed the trademark for themselves. Your trademark is lost, and you may not be able to get it back.
Filing Your Trademark
Any company can have this scenario happen at any time. You may have prior usage rights, based on your usage. If you plan to grow your business, filing the trademark allows you to continue using it during daily operations. However, if the other company decides to use your trademark and file it for themselves, it is no longer yours.
Filing your trademark is a process. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll have legal protections and ownership.
Benefits Of Filing A Trademark
If you’re wondering if it’s worth filing a trademark, consider what’s included. Registering your trademark with the USPTO gives you nationwide legal protection, public notice, and significant rights and benefits that unregistered, or “common law” marks do not provide.
Key Benefits
- Nationwide Protection: USPTO registration grants exclusive rights to use your mark across all 50 states and US territories, whereas unregistered marks only have protection in specific geographic areas.
- Legal Safeguards
- Federal registration creates a legal presumption of ownership and validity, making lawsuits easier to win.
- You gain the right to bring infringement lawsuits in federal court, with possible recovery of profits, damages, and attorneys’ fees.
- Public Notice
- Your mark is entered in the USPTO database, so competitors and the public are formally notified of your rights.
- The USPTO will block anyone else from registering a confusingly similar mark.
- Additional Advantages
- Ability to use the “®” symbol, adding prestige and deterring copycats.
- You can record your mark with the US Customs and Border Protection, which helps stop the import of infringing foreign goods.
- Use your US registration as the foundation to secure international trademark rights when expanding abroad.
- After five years of continuous use, you may obtain “incontestable” status, giving your mark even stronger legal protection.
- Business Value
- A registered trademark increases your brand’s value, improves sales, and strengthens trust with customers and partners.
- The protection and recognition make your brand more attractive for licensing, franchising, or business sale.
- Registration can save substantial time and money by reducing the risk of future litigation over branding disputes.
- Federal trademark registration with the USPTO is a vital tool for legal protection, business growth, and safeguarding your intellectual property nationwide.
The benefits of filing a trademark go beyond just “making it legal.” Filing your trademark ensures that your trademark stays yours and stops others from usurping it and taking away what you’ve worked so hard to create.
Your Company’s Trademark Is Its Brand Identity. TopShelf Trademarks Protects Your Brand.
We can help you trademark your business name and other intellectual property to protect your company and your place in the marketplace. Top Shelf Trademarks has assisted companies throughout the United States with their trademarks and other IP assets since 2016. Contact our office today by phone at 1-845-417-7817, via email at team@lkaplanlaw.com, or via our website.