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How to Register a Trademark

Written by: Shannon Moore

Article Overview: So, you finally settled on the perfect name for your product or service – it describes the business without being overly descriptive, it tells your customers exactly what you want them to know and it's catchy. That's fantastic! Finding just the right name is vitally important to the success of any product line or service.

How to Register a Trademark

So, you finally settled on the perfect name for your product or service – it describes the business without being overly descriptive, it tells your customers exactly what you want them to know and it's catchy. That's fantastic! Finding just the right name is vitally important to the success of any product line or service.

Is it required that I register my trademark?

No, not at all. However, registering your trademark, specifically your Federal trademark, does provide you with several advantages:

• The right to use the circle-R symbol as notice to the public about your Federal trademark

• The exclusive rights to the name within your industry across the country

• Establishing brand identity

But what if someone else already came up with that name?

While the name may be unique and distinctive to you, there is a possibility that another party already has prior trademark or common-law rights to the name for your industry. Only comprehensive research will tell you if the name is truly available. This entails searching the pending & registered Federal and State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files. Then, if clear, you can decide if you would like to file for a Federal or a State trademark.

Ok, so the name is clear; now what?

To register your trademark, you have 2 options – file for a Federal or a State trademark. If you are only going to sell your product or services in 1 state, then a State trademark is the way to go. If you are OR will be selling your products or services in at least 2 states, then you're able to file for a Federal trademark.

While anyone has the ability to go online to access these forms, it's strongly recommended to hire a private company or an attorney for the preparation and/or filing of the trademark application. To ensure a successful filing, it's best to leave it in the hands of those with experience.

You found the perfect name – now, make sure it's truly yours!

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Related Forum Posts
Re: Need suggestions on domain name registration. - Hi Mr. Ven, I agree with everyone, hyphen or no hypen does not matter. But a suggestion for you is: 1. Register a domain name for your company that is based more on branding than stuffing a keyword in there. 2. If you want to register a domain name with your keywords stuffed in there use it for a blog, no one will mind and it will work great in the search engines. Jeff
Re: About: product production! - [quote="FreshGoods":1yq3rfuo]Most importantly,with all that has been said...when is it absolutely appropriate to patent your idea? Why do people file for patents if it is not necessary? I would really like to know this please. I appreciate your helpful tips a lot! THANKS.[/quote:1yq3rfuo] Hi FreshGoods, Don't forget that you can always patent your product yourself (or even incorporate your company or apply for a trademark or copyright) and without the help of a lawyer. It would save you a lot of money. For instance, if I got my Trademark filed by my lawyer, it would've cost about $1200+. But going through the process myself by simply reading the official brochure only cost about $450 total.
How to protect my trade mark? - What affirmative action can he take, at least commercially, other than to "continue to sell online and in a small number of stores?" What if his means are limited? How much additional burden on the trademark holder, who has already jumped through the hoops of registration and is actually marketing his product, is it fair to place? Trademark registration, to have any value, surely ought to amplify a trademark's holder's ability to defend his/her mark. But if a mark is continually vulnerable to attack from those with deeper pockets, then registration would appear to have little evident or useful purpose, except among like-sized, or similarly endowed entities. But if you mean that he ought to take legal action rather than commercial action, does not the same rule apply: that whoever can pay the most generally will win? How this fosters a healthy public policy environment is difficult to discern. Would not a system of bribery ultimately be more efficient and predictable, if not more honest in the naive sense?
hiring an employee - You may want to consider contracting out instead of actually hiring. Some factors to think about if you hire someone as an employee and you put them on payroll you will be required to pay CPP and EI, as well as deducting CPP, EI and Taxes from their paycheck and remitting them to Revenue Canada. So you will need to 1. Register with Revenue Canada so you can make the remittenances 2. make sure you keep really good track of these deductions 3. it you don't have the time to do payroll you may need to hire a bookkeeper. or you could contract out the hours that you would need an assistant. The would be able to work from their space or your office. There is another option that you might want to consider some of the community centers offers training programs for new immigrants or anyone wish to change professions some of these programs require that they offer their services for 6 or 8 weeks (no charge to the employer). If you need someone short term this may help you and provide extra training for someone else. Microskills is one of the Community Centers that offer such programs. they train customer service personal, bookkeepers.
The Value of Mentoring - Successful mentor pairings (in case there was any doubt as to the value of mentoring): 1. André Ouellet (President, Canada Post) mentor to Mark Whalen (Urban Organics and winner, Young Entrepreneur Award) 2. Marc Lefrançois (President, Via Rail Canada) mentor to Jeffrey Campbell (Core Networks, Inc. and winner, Young Entrepreneur Award) 3. Donald Kendall (former CEO of PepsiCo) mentor to John Scully (former CEO of Apple) 4. Harland Sanders (the Colonel) mentor to Dave Thomas (founder of Wendy's) 5. Stuart Friend (KMart manager) mentor to Wayne Sales (CEO of Canadian Tire) 6. Jim Rohn (author, motivational speaker) mentor to Anthony Robbins (author, motivational speaker) 7. Robert Patterson (CEO, National Cash Register) mentor to Thomas Watson (founder of IBM) 8. Henri-Paul Rosseau (President, Laurentian Bank of Canada) mentor to isabel Rodriquez and Yves Besner (i4design and winners, Young Entrepreneur Award)


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