Registering a Trademark? Hire an Experienced Trademark Attorney

The responsibilities of a trademark attorney include advising on the adoption and selection of new trademarks; filing and prosecuting applications to register trademarks; advising on the use and registration of trademarks; handling trademark oppositions, revocations, invalidations and assignments; and advising on trademark infringement matters. Because patents, trademarks and copyrights all fall under the broad area of intellectual property law, if you plan on obtaining a trademark, patent or copyright it is in your best interest to consult with a qualified trademark attorney, patent attorney or copyright lawyer to help you properly file for protection of your intellectual property. If you plan on licensing someone else's copyright, trademark, patent or other form of intellectual property, a trademark attorney can assure that everyone's legal rights are protected under intellectual property law.

Find a trademark attorney that's right for you and your situation. Because registering a trademark requires extensive knowledge of trademark law and procedures it is highly recommended that you use the trademark services of a trademark attorney. A trademark attorney can advise you on many aspects of your trademark filing and on trademark services.

A trademark attorney should be used when choosing a product name trademark or a trademark slogan. Ideally, your trademark attorney would order a trademark search report. Your trademark attorney should then counsel you on the results of the trademark search and whether it is safe to proceed with using the proposed mark. He should also counsel you on any questions you may have, such as how to get a trademark, the cost to register a trademark and how to trademark a logo or trademark slogan. In summary, a trademark attorney will be able to counsel you on all facets of registering a trademark and trademark filing. You may be able to learn about trademark cost, trademark searching, an online trademark search, and the steps to get a trademark by reviewing our trademark articles.

Additionally, a trademark attorney can advise you on how to handle certain situations such as receiving a cease and desist letter. A cease and desist letter is written when a party believes their trademark is being infringed upon. A cease and desist letter must be evaluated by a trademark attorney who will provide you with trademark assistance.

Yet how should you choose a trademark attorney? To begin with, never pick your trademark attorney based solely upon a lawyer referral service or advertising. Lawyer referral services generally do not evaluate the abilities of the attorneys in their listings, but simply accept any attorney willing to pay the membership dues of that referral service. The referral service then refers clients to these "trademark attorneys" on a rotating basis. Usually It is almost always the attorney's own subjective determination that he or she is a "trademark attorney," yet this attorney may have little experience and knowledge of trademark law.

Advertising is also a poor method for finding a trademark lawyer. Many trademark lawyers who extensively advertise run their practices like factories, with impersonal service and an army of paralegals preparing your trademark application. Instead, try to find a trademark attorney who provides individual attention to your trademark matters, including every aspect of trademark searching and trademark filing.

If you like a certain phrase or logo but you aren't ready to use it, you may be able to reserve it for future use, which keeps someone else from taking it. You can acquire rights to the trademark by filing an "intent-to-use" (ITU) trademark registration application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as long as someone else hasn't actually started using the trademark. However, even if you file an intent-to-use trademark application, the mark will not actually be registered until it is used in commerce.

A trademark attorney is often regulated as a profession in which case they must pass a series of examinations, comply with other requirements, and observe professional ethics and standards in order to maintain formal registration as a trademark attorney

Gust A. Lenglet has been an accountant and financial advisor for many years. He is President and CEO of HBS Financial Group, Ltd. and offers online tax filing through his many web sites. He is also an accomplished author in the tax, legal, and education fields.

Do You Need a Trademark?

Copyright (c) 2006 Elias Stassinos

Here's what you need to know about trademarks.

Even though all starting businesses need one or more business licenses and tax ids before legally starting business operations, another consideration when starting a business is the trademark of the business name, product or service. After reading this article you will know what is a trademark and whether you need to register one.

What is a Trademark?

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs. This word, symbol or design identifies and distinguishes a company's products or services from products and services of another company. Note that a trademark of a product is the mark of the product itself or a mark associated with the offering of a product. Similarly, a trademark of a service is the mark in connection with the services.

Do I need to register a trademark?

Trademark registration is not required but it will help you in case the use of the mark is challenged. You can establish rights in a mark based on legitimate use of the mark. "Legitimate use" in general means that the name, mark or symbol used in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services within a specified geographical region. Thus, if, for a period of time, you use the mark to sell toys in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, you acquire rights to the mark selling toys in that particular area. Or, if you do business nationwide, you acquire rights to the use of the mark, nationwide.

You can establish rights to a trademark if you register the trademark at the federal or state level. That will establish that you are commonly known by the registered trademark. If it is a name, you can establish that you are commonly know by that trademark name if you register a corporate name as a corporation or the trade name as a "doing business as" ("DBA"). In addition, registering a trademark provides constructive notice to the public, and a presumption that you are the owner or the mark and you use it in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the registration.

Federal trademark registration allows you to to bring an action concerning the mark in federal court. The trademark registration is also a basis for registration in other countries. You can also file with the U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods. Keep in mind, however, that you any time you claim rights in a mark, you may use the "TM" (trademark) or "SM" (service mark) designation to alert the public to your claim, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. However, you may use the federal registration symbol "?" only after the United States Patent and Trademark Office actually registers a mark, and not while an application is pending. Also, you may use the registration symbol with the mark only on or in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the federal trademark registration.

How do I file a Trademark Application?

If you hire a trademark attorney, you normally fill out a secure online trademark application form. I recommend hiring an attorney because if you prepare and submit an application, you must comply with all requirements of the trademark statute and rules. If you choose to appoint an attorney to represent your interests before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will correspond only with your attorney.




Elias Stassinos, Esquire is a trademark and incorporation attorney that has assisted thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs launch their first business enterprise. Attorney Elias Stassinos, Esquire is also a corporate legal counsel for businessnameusa.com online legal filing service .

Trademarks - An Exercise In Patience

Trademarks are a form of intellectual property for a person or business. To protect your mark, you always should formally trademark it. This brings us to the subject of patience.

Trademarks - An Exercise In Patience

A mark is simple a distinctive name, brand or whatever for your person or business. At the risk of being sued to high heaven, the name "Google" is a trademark for a certain search engine. When it is mentioned or you read about it, you know exactly what it refers to. As a business becomes successful, it will almost always want to trademark its brand, logo or whatever.

Obtaining a trademark is not particularly difficult to do. The process is controlled by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The "PTO" is an agency falling under the control of the United Stated Department of Commerce. Fascinating, eh?

Filing a trademark application with the PTO is an interesting ordeal. From a technical stand point, it is fairly simple. You can search online to see if anyone else has already obtained the trademark you are after. If not, you can fill out an application and file it online. The PTO will assign an attorney to it. He or she will either approve the application, send correspondence asking you to clarify some aspect or outright reject your application. While this sounds straightforward, there is one aspect that turns the process into an annoying one - time.

The trademark office is a government agency. As such, one can expect a certain amount of lag time in getting things done. The trademark office, however, takes this to the extreme. When you first file your trademark application, you can expect to wait for up to two months before you receive anything. When you do, it will only be a postcard verifying that the office has RECEIVED your application. Yes, it takes two months for this.

At this point, you need to have a lot of patience. Roughly six months will pass before you hear anything else on your application. It could be longer. The delay means nothing in relation to the merits of your application. It just takes forever. If you finally receive correspondence accepting your application, you will need to wait another month for it to be published and then become approved. If the trademark office wants clarification on your application, you will have thirty to sixty days to send it in. Once you do, it is time to sit and wait some more - often two to four months. It can be maddening. The process can often take more than a year to play out.

Whether you attempt to obtain a trademark on your own or use an attorney, it is important to understand what you are getting into. Don't worry when you do not receive anything for four or five months. This is standard operating procedure at the PTO. Sooner or later, they will get around to it.

Gerard Simington is with FindAnAttorneyForMe.com - an online trademark attorney directory.

Trademark Considerations to Protect Your Name

In Trademark Law; first use is the key, but still you need to document this and get a trademark at the Federal Level or a service mark at the state level. Without it you may find a bigger firm moving into your area, which had used your name in interstate commerce prior to your local use and thus they can make you change your name.

Imagine the cost in changing all your signage and disrupting your good will with your brand name in your local market. This confuses customers and puts a question mark about your credibility where none had previously existed.

How hard is it to get a trademark? Well not so difficult once you do a search to make sure no one else is using this name or a similar symbol elsewhere. Generally service marks or trademarks are searched by category and so if you are in a cross-over type category or straddle several SIC codes it makes sense to search it thoroughly and find a competent patent and trademark attorney to do it correctly.

If no one challenges you during the initial term of your trademark you can file for a permanent trademark so be sure to ask your trademark attorney about this also. Protect your logos and business name, as it is not worth the risk if you have a successful and on-going business to allow this to slide. Think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow, a retired entrepreneur, adventurer, modern day philosopher and perpetual tourist.

US Trademark Searches

Trademarks are names, phrases, logos or images used to uniquely identify your company and your products and services. Because trademarks are used in businesses, there are rights you can claim to protect your company, and there are governing bodies that regulate the use of your trademark. In the United States of America, the governing body called United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the governing body that makes your trademark and patented product unique. They guarantee that no other company can carry the same name, logo or product without proper approval from you.

Before any company is given approval for a trademark application, the USPTO scrutinizes the application, making sure that the trademark filing is unique and is in no way identical to any existing trademarks. Their primary task is to reject an application if there is the slightest possibility that any copyright infringement is or can be violated. In fact, a few years ago, a 17 year old boy named Mike Rowe registered and operated the web site www.mikerowesoft.com.

When the software giant, Microsoft, discovered this, they filed to move that the site be shut down immediately. The courts granted in favor of Microsoft, stating that it would be damaging and confusing to the software company. Another well-publicized lawsuit over a URL address was between World Wildlife Foundation with the site www.wwf.org and the World Wrestling Federation bearing the site address www.wwf.com. The former sued the latter to drop the URL address stating that the practices of the former are detrimental to the image of the wildlife foundation. The World Wildlife Foundation was granted favor by the courts and World Wrestling Federation had to change their name to World Wrestling Entertainment and refrain from using the acronyms WWF.

Trademark Search provides detailed information on Trademark Search, Free Trademark Searches, Online Trademark Searches, US Trademark Searches and more. Trademark Search is affiliated with Free Patent Searches.

Free Trademark Searches

Before filing for trademark, it is a good idea to search for information such as Trademark Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services, Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, Design Code for the logos and images. With these guidelines, you can make certain the trademark you are developing is unique. It can also help you avoid any trouble or violations not only on the possible similarities on existing trademark, but on violation of standards that have been set.

When you file for a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), there are many considerations you have to make to ensure the uniqueness of your trademark. Conventional things to consider are the name, word or phrase, the logo, symbol, design or images used in your trademark, making sure they are distinct from any of the existing trademarks out there. The main concern of the USPTO is to look for possible copyright infringement that your application may incur and to find ways to reject your trademark. With this risk at hand, it is best to search for trademarks existing and under application. There are free methods available for you to search for trademarks.

The Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL) keeps records of patent and trademark materials within the United States of America at your disposal. They are also tasked to disseminate information involving patents and trademarks. You can go to the depository to manually check for whatever details you may need regarding trademarks or patents.

If there are other details, like laws or frequently asked questions you may need, you can visit the USPTO website to retrieve information they have posted. You can search for queries regarding trademarks, patents and copyrights. There are also news and articles related to the matter available , and you can use the Trademark Application and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) to search for the status of applications.

Trademark Search provides detailed information on Trademark Search, Free Trademark Searches, Online Trademark Searches, US Trademark Searches and more. Trademark Search is affiliated with Free Patent Searches.

To Successfully Enforce Your Patent Do Not Let Form Triumph Over Substance While Writing The Patent

Chemical and pharmaceutical companies protect their investment in research and development and the future of the companies by securing patents on their inventions. Patents help you resist competition. Success or failure of the company often depends on the strength of the patent. The words in the patent document must meet rigid formality requirements under the patent laws. Even if the invention covered by the patent is a fantastic one, the court will throw out the patent if it violates any one of the formality requirements.

The patent document is normally divided into several sections, for example, one section describing the background of the invention, another section describing the invention as a summary, another section describing the drawings of your invention, yet another section describing in detail how to make and use the invention, and a final section that lists various aspects of your invention in numbered sentences, typically from 1 to 20. These numbered sentences or claims form the most important section of the patent.

It is the claims that define the invention. When a competitor wants to design around your invention, he will look to the language of the claims. When you sue someone for infringing your invention, the court will look at the claims in your patent. It is clear that the claims are of paramount importance.

The patent contains independent claims and dependent claims. Dependent claims will refer back to an earlier claim. Independent claims do not refer back to any other claim. For example, dependent claim 2 will refer back to independent claim 1. When dependent claims refer back to other claims, they should meet certain rigid formality requirements, one of which is that the dependent claim cannot be broader in scope than the claim it refers back to. Thus, for example, if claim 1 describes a drug in acid form or its salt form, claim 2 can describe the drug in salt form. However, if claim 1 describes only the acid form, claim 2 cannot describe the salt form. If it so describes, then claim 2 will be broader than claim 1, which is forbidden under the patent laws.

In a recently concluded battle between pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and generic drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories, the generic drug maker was able to knock out a patent that covered the blockbuster drug Lipitor. The patent claim that Pfizer asserted against Ranbaxy was held invalid by the high court. Here, Pfizer asserted claim 6 describing a calcium salt of the drug against the opponent. Claim 6 referred back to claim 2 which described an acid form of the drug but not the salt form. The high court held that claim 6 cannot properly refer back to claim 2. The harsh result faced by Pfizer is somewhat surprising because it was believed by many that a court would not look at the form over substance, just as the lower court did. The lower court was reluctant to find fault with the patent claim.

The high court opinion emphasizes the fact that filing a winning patent requires careful consideration of various legal concepts including the intricate formality requirements of the patent law. Copyright 2006

Dr. Xavier Pillai specializes in patent law matters involving chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and polymers; see http://www.leydig.com/Attorneys/AttorneyDetail.aspx?AttorneyID=160.

WikiPatents Enables Community Patent Review

"Bad patents" cost infringers--and, ultimately, all consumers--millions, if not billions, of dollars every year. Yet, "good patents" often go unrecognized. Until now, there has been no web site encouraging large-scale, organized public comment to clarify the true merits and value of U.S. patents.

WikiPatents.com, officially launched August 28, 2006, addresses these problems. WikiPatents' goal is to strengthen the patent system by clarifying whether a patent really protects a new idea and how much that idea is worth. The United States Patent & Trademark Office is very effective at reviewing patents given its limited time and resources. WikiPatents provides patent examiners at the Patent Office and the entire patent community another powerful resource that will add reliability, clarity, and efficiency to the patent process.

WikiPatents is a free-access web site and database containing millions of patents that allows the interested public to discuss, rate, and vote on published patents and, soon, pending patent applications. Most notably, users can add prior art references (publications that closely relate to and predate the patented technology), as well as comment and vote on the relevancy of prior art. Users can also comment and vote on patent value, licensing, technical, and other issues for each patent.

WikiPatents seeks to become the crossroads where patent examiners, inventors, investors, patent attorneys, and litigants join to discuss the merits of patents and patent applications.

Peter Johnson and Kevin Hermansen are co-founders of www.WikiPatents.com - Community Patent Review, a new free-access web site and database that enables public commentary on published patents

To Crush Your Competition A Strong Patent Is Important Learn How and Why

Chemical and pharmaceutical companies protect their investment in research and development and the future of the companies by securing patents on their inventions. Patents help you resist competition. Success or failure of the company often depends on the strength of the patent and the longer the term of the patent, the greater will be its value. A strong patent is one that defines your invention broadly and but at the same time builds in fallback narrow invention.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office receives hundreds of thousands of patent applications each year. In fact, the Patent Office has recently proposed new patent rules to ease the Examiner workload. According to one proposed rule, if a patent application is rejected, to be able to present your case again, the patent applicant will be limited to filing one request for continued examination (or RCE). In light of the new rule, unless the patent applicant masters the complexities of patent law, the applicant might end up getting a weak patent instead of a strong one.

Imagine you have filed a patent application where you have defined your invention broadly as well as narrowly in ten succinct sentences in what are known as patent claims. These patent claims will be numbered 1 through 10. Typically claim 1 will represent the invention of the broadest scope, and the higher numbered claims represent fallback narrow inventions. In our hypothetical, claims 2 to 10 will refer back to claim 1. Thus, claim 2 refers back to claim 1. Claim 4 refers back to claim 3, which in turn refers back to claim 2. Claim 5 refers back to claim 1 or claim 4. In this example, say claim 5 refers back to claim 1. Keep in mind that the more number of fallback claims you have, you have a better chance of winning the lawsuit in the event your competitor challenges your patent.

Now imagine that the Examiner rejects the patent, as it often happens, stating that the invention is not new or is only a minor modification of what is known already. You, as patent applicant, have a chance to respond to the Examiner. You present arguments stating why the invention is new and not obvious and why you should granted a patent. The Examiner rejects your argument. Now, to continue your effort to get a patent, you wish to present new arguments. To do so, you may have to file an RCE (and the fee) along with the new arguments.

The Examiner takes it up again. This time, the Examiner softens a little and says, in a non-final rejection, that invention of claims 4 to 10 would be allowable as a patent if you rewrite claim 4 without a reference to claim 1, but continues to reject the broader invention of claims 1, 2, and 3. You now have a choice of taking what the Examiner gave you, that is, claims 4 to 10 or alternatively, argue some more. You choose to argue. The Examiner finally rejected your application, repeating what he said before, that is, claim 4 onwards would be allowable if you rewrite it as indicated before. Now, the options you have are very limited. You can rewrite claim 4 as the Examiner indicated, as new claim 1, and obtain a patent with new claim 1. However, you will not be able to get a patent with claims 5 to 10.

The Examiner would refuse to grant claim 5 to 10 because he will say that claim 5 now has been changed in its scope even though you did not change the wording of the claim. The Examiner will argue that original claim 5 referred back to original claim 1. Now, claim 5 refers back to new claim 1, which is of a different scope. The Examiner would indicate that, as the scope of the claim has changed, he would need to carry out further search and examination on claims 5 to 10. He would say that the patent law would not allow him to do so since the rejection has been made final already. The only way to get the Examiner moving on this would be if you could file an RCE. However, you have already used up your RCE option. You cannot file another RCE now, and therefore, you cannot get claims 5-10. You will get a patent with just one claim. If an infringer challenges your patent, and proves that your only claim is invalid, your entire patent would be thrown out.

If you had rewritten claim 4 (as new claim 1) when responding to the non-final rejection, rather than when responding to the final rejection as you did, patent law would have allowed the Examiner to carry out further search on claims 5 to 10, and the chances of getting those claims would have been favorable. If you had fallback position of claims 5 to 10 also, you would have a greater chance of winning the case. Copyright 2006

Dr. Xavier Pillai specializes in patent law involving chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and polymers; see http://www.leydig.com

Patent Me This, Batman

Copyright 2006 Find Your Prosperity.com

I believe there is creativity in every person and so, apparently, does Simon Cowell (or maybe he knows it makes great TV!). The crazies on American Inventor aside, I believe that people's creativity may may be suppressed, out of fear or embarrassment, or just undiscovered. But maybe you already knew that. Maybe you have a little workshop in your garage or in a corner of your apartment. Maybe you spend your free time tinkering around, trying to make a better mousetrap. Maybe you count yourself among the inventors, a rare breed of maverick that feels compelled to solve the most mundane of problems. And I, for one, thank you for being that kind of freak.

If you're going to be an inventor, though, it's crucial to protect your Intellectual Property from people who might try to steal your idea and your resulting profits. There are three types of patents currently granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They are:

*Design Patents

*Utility Patents

*Plant Patents

Design and Utility Patents are the two most commonly applied for. As of the time of this writing, Design Patents are issued for a period of 14 years, and protect the design of a device, machine or process. For instance, you cannot patent a woman's purse. But if you've made substantial enough changes to it in terms of its structure and overall look, you may be granted a Design Patent.

A Utility Patent is granted for a period of 20 years, and governs the way a device, machine or process might be used. If significant improvements are made to the way a process, such as yoga or physical exercise, is used, it may be granted a Utility Patent.

Plant Patents protect new varieties of plants, which may be patently (sorry) obvious.

Some people choose to go through a patent attorney, and that can be very helpful for newbies. But if money is an issue, Design Patents are very easy to apply for, and the services of an attorney are not required. The typical cost of obtaining a design patent is approximately $400, which does not include an international patent search or technical drawings. An international patent search is necessary to make sure someone else has not yet patented your idea or design. Patent searches can be done in patent libraries, or through a patent searcher, who is likely to charge around $200-300 per search. Technical drawings are usually necessary, unless your product has been prototyped (at least one of them has to exist, in other words).

Applying for a patent provides "patent pending" or "patent applied for" status, usually in about six weeks. Much, if not all, of the process can be done online (www.uspto.gov), or easily with PatentWizard 2.0. Doing things this way allows you to seek out venture capital, if you want to start your own business and take care of manufacturing, or approach a licensing agent, if you'd prefer to farm out the manufacturing in exchange for a cut of units produced and sold.

Licensing is another issue, but suffice it to say that you will need a logbook to track the process of inventing your product. In the event of a challenge by the Patent Office, you need to have a record of drawings, sketches, ideas and random jottings that are dated along the way. Inventor's Place has a wonderful logbook that not only gives you the space you need to keep track of your invention's progress, but also gives encouragement and valuable tips that will save you money before you fork any more over to the government.

If you like your information straight and simple, Richard Levy's book will walk you through the entire patenting process, without the BS. As the inventor of the Furby, among 125 other products, he's got the goods to help you get started on the path to invention success!

I'm sure I'll thank you for it later.

For more stories like this, go to http://www.FindYourProsperity.com

Alyson Mead is founder of http://www.FindYourProsperity.com. In her 18-year career as an award-winning writer, she has published hundreds of articles in over 25 outlets, including Salon, AOL, MSN-NBC, BUST, New York Daily News, Bitch, The Sun, In These Times and more. She has received the Columbine Award for Screenwriting, the Roy W. Dean Filmmaking Grant, and a Writer's Digest Award.

Trademark: Do I Need One for My Business Name and Logo?

Wondering if a trademark is important to you as a business owner? Let's start with the basics. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or logo that distinguishes and identifies the source of goods of one company or person from another. For example, the name Kraft is trademarked, as is Nike's "swoosh" logo.

The list of what constitutes a trademark is long. A trademark can also be granted to unique packaging such as the shape of Coca-cola's bottle, building designs, color, sound, and even fragrance. Service marks receive the same legal protection, but are used to distinguish services instead of products.

Your business can acquire trade or service marks through the consistent use of a mark. The symbols TM and SM demonstrate the owner treats the mark as a trademark or service mark. There is no requirement to federally register at the trademark office. You are still protected under intellectual property laws. However, if another party uses your mark it can be more difficult to prove your ownership.

To register online with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), go to www.uspto.gov. There is a registration fee for each name, logo, and slogan. Federal registration ensures another party is not already using your mark. A registered trademark gives you exclusive rights to use a mark with your particular goods or services. The USPTO can only register trademarks for marks that are used across state lines. A website customers can access in other areas can satisfy this requirement. Otherwise, you will only be able to apply for a state trademark.

Only a mark registered and approved by the USPTO can use the ? symbol. Since the application process can take many months to complete, use the TM or SM symbol in the meantime to establish your intention to use the mark as a trademark. Make sure you keep records as to when your mark was first used in commerce and regulate the use of your mark in the marketplace.

Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven, is the owner of Kinesis. Kinesis specializes in marketing, graphic and website design, and business writing. Visit http://www.kinesisinc.com/resources/articles.html for more articles and free marketing wisdom.

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