You can trademark a person's name. In fact, you can trademark someone else's name. But, if you want to register a trademark that includes the name, nickname, portrait, or signature of a living individual, there are a few things you need to know. In additional to the usual filing requirements, [...] Read More

The trademark process can be very confusing, so it's no wonder why the USPTO recommends hiring an attorney to file your trademark application. Just check out the chart of the basic process above. To help you figure out the process, we made this handy trademark registration process flowchart, to give you [...] Read More

The USPTO has to "registers" for trademarks, the principal register and the supplemental register. Before you can understand these registers, you need to understand trademark "distinctiveness," that is, how much the trademark relates to the goods and services being sold. The more descriptive the trademark is, the weaker and less [...] Read More

One of the first questions we get asked about filing a federal trademark application is "how much does it cost?" That leads to every lawyer's favorite answer: it depends. First of all, it depends on whether or not you hire a trademark lawyer. Hiring a trademark lawyer is always a [...] Read More

You don't have to register your trademark to have limited trademark protection. But there is another dirty little secret about trademarks: you can apply for a federally registered trademark yourself online, for free, at the USPTO--you only pay the government fees. If you decide not to use a real trademark [...] Read More

Here's a dirty little secret: you don't need to register your trademark to have limited trademark protection. As soon as you use a trademark in commerce, you have "common law" protection in it. The biggest downside to common law trademarks is that they are limited in geographic scope. You can [...] Read More

The minimum filing requirements for federal trademark applications are deceptively simple. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will grant a filing date to an application that contains all of the following: The name of the applicant; The name and address for correspondence; A clear drawing of the trademark; A [...] Read More