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When you develop a new product or service, the next step is to develop a memorable brand, trademark, or slogan. Please take a few minutes to ensure each of these is usable before displaying them on your product packaging or website. Failure to do so may result in costly problems down the road.
I’m talking about trademarks and the risk of infringing on someone else’s legal rights.
It only takes a few minutes to find out if your new product’s brand is already a trademark of someone else, or if it’s confusingly similar to a trademark in use. Start with a quick search on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and both major mobile app stores (Apple App Store and Google Play).
Don’t stop there. To check if your brand name or slogan is available, United States Patent and Trademark Office Website.
You don’t need to register your brand or trademark to start using it. In fact, the USPTO will not register a trademark unless a product bearing the trademark is on the market. Trademark rights arise from the use of a trademark, not from registration.
This is practical advice for any entrepreneur. But first, if you need legal advice, we recommend that you consult a good intellectual property (IP) attorney.
Related: Startups need to protect their trademarks.Here’s how and why
Value of registered trademark
You may be surprised to learn that you can trademark your catchphrase or slogan to protect your intellectual property. Registered trademarks make it easier to brand your products and services, increasing your credibility and recognition in the marketplace. Unique trademarks also reduce confusion.
Business owners feel very strongly about protecting their intellectual property, filing more than 181,000 trademark applications in the first quarter of 2024. To secure trademark registration from the federal government, you must pay a filing fee and use an online service or hire a professional attorney to handle the paperwork. I recommend the latter. Additionally, a trademark owner must renew her trademark registration every 10 years.
Trademark infringement
Small business owners may decide to start using a slogan they like without checking to see if it’s available. Perhaps you only serve a local market and think it’s fine as long as the trademark owner does business elsewhere. However, if the name or phrase is already registered for use in connection with or in connection with your product or service, you could be charged with trademark infringement.
You may find it wise to imitate a well-known brand or registered slogan, with a few tweaks. Unfortunately, the relevant public may mistakenly believe that your product or service is endorsed or sponsored by the company you are registering with, or that you and your business are in any way affiliated with that business. If assumed, courts will often treat that use as infringement.
You may be wondering whether the threat of infringement matters. To do. If you are caught using a slogan that is the subject of someone else’s trademark or is confusingly similar, don’t assume that you can ask for forgiveness instead of permission. Most business owners will take great care to protect their investments. After all, they have spent years trying to make consumers and other audiences associate that slogan with their company.
Related: Everything you need to know about using trademarks in business
Trademark owners need to protect their trademarks
Part of the responsibility of owning a trademark is to protect its use. Otherwise, you lose the ability to enforce your trademark if a direct competitor tries to steal it or uses a confusingly similar trademark. So, don’t blame the trademark owner for sending you an email or cease and desist notice. It’s their duty and it’s your mistake. The worst thing you can do is ignore this type of communication and hope it goes away.
I have invested heavily in trademarks as a way to brand my business. The slogan you register will be featured in your company’s online and email marketing materials. We have optimized the tagline with his SEO so that it ranks when potential customers are looking for the solutions we sell.
I recently came across a company using one of my trademarks in their app store.
When a consumer searches for my trademark, they may click on a link that takes them to another app. The resulting potential for lost revenue and customer misunderstanding is exactly the type of situation that trademark rules are designed to protect against.
In this case, I assumed positive intent and proceeded. To address this issue, I wrote an email to the infringer explaining my findings and asking them to stop using my trademarked product name. Fortunately, they agreed to cease their activities.
Unfortunately, not all trademark violators react so aggressively. In another situation, a direct competitor ignored my polite e-mail message regarding his illegal use of my registered trademark.
I was particularly concerned in this case because there was a real risk of confusing potential customers. When I pointed out this concern, the violator did not apologize. Instead, they argued that there would be no disruption to the market.
My next step was to contact an attorney and ask him to explain the infringement. We continue to vigorously defend against this violation.
Related: Should you copyright your logo? Here’s what you need to know.
As a business owner, if you want to use a specific wording, design, logo, or slogan as a way to brand your product, take a few minutes to make sure it’s available and doesn’t have confusing similarities to someone else’s trademark. please confirm. Even better, develop and register your wording, design, and logo.
Trademark law protects the intellectual property of owners. Avoiding loss of customers and revenue is the main goal. Whether the illegal use occurs on a local market or national scale, or whether accidentally or intentionally, entrepreneurs must be careful to avoid using someone else’s trademark or confusingly similar products.