thank you thank you thank you very much
thank you very much ladies and gentlemen
I am Marc Shaiman from the trademark
information network big thank you to the
United States Patent and Trademark
Office for inviting us here today it's
always great to come visit the campus
and get a chance to talk to people about
trademarks now uh with me today is of
course our star investigative reporter
Sandhya Mahajan
that's right feel free to applaud good
good okay oh so I'm just going to be
gathering questions throughout the
presentation today so if you have a
question jot it down on one of the note
cards that you'll see you in your seats
and you can hand it in and if you want
to include your name feel free to jot it
down
we'll probably answer a couple of those
questions throughout the presentation
and then we'll try and answer all the
rest of them at the end so get your pens
ready okay now before we get started I
have a quick question for you
now I understand most of you are
entrepreneurs and small business owners
how many of you have a business plan in
place go ahead raise them up good now
how many of you have a trademark
component as part of your business plan
okay I was afraid of that trademarks are
an essential part of your business they
represent your goodwill your reputation
and their how people can tell the
difference between the products and
services that your business offers and
what other businesses offer but here's
the good news you here today
you're going to learn about trademarks
and you can go back to your office or to
your kitchen table or the coffee shop
around the corner and start working
trademarks into your business plan what
we're going to do today is break down
the basic facts about trademarks first
we want you to understand what a
trademark is and how it differs from a
patent or copyright second we're going
to discuss the benefits of federal
registration now you're all business
people right you wouldn't want to spend
money to apply for a trademark without
knowing what you could get in return
right so we'll talk about what a federal
registration can do for
your business third we want you to
understand how to select or choose or or
create your own trademark and believe me
folks this part is key the same concepts
apply if you don't have a trademark yet
or if you have one already and you think
it's pretty great okay seriously if you
were part of that latter group and you
think you have a fantastic trademark
stay with me here okay you want to make
sure that your trademark is federally
registered and legally protected if it's
not you could be wasting valuable time
and money and you might even be opening
up your business to a lawsuit fourth we
want you to understand what resources
are available to you if you need help
during the application process now lots
of people ask whether they need to hire
an attorney or whether they can do it on
their own we're going to talk about that
as well as give you some suggestions on
where you can turn for help by the end
you should know how to select and apply
for a trademark registration so that
trademark will be federally registered
and legally protected and that's an
asset that's going to help your business
grow over time
and speaking of valuable assets
I thought we'd use some examples that
you might recognize okay no favoritism
here of course these are all marks
appearing on a recent Interbrand list of
top 100 global brands now we're only
using them here because trademark
concepts can sometimes be complex and
real-world examples often make the
concepts easier to understand so with
all that out of the way sit back and
find something to take notes on we have
a lot to discuss first things first what
is a trademark well the legal definition
of a trademark is any word slogan symbol
design or combination of these things
that identifies the source of your goods
and services and distinguishes them from
the goods and services of another party
but the easiest way to think about it is
this a trademark is a brand for goods
and services let's look at a couple of
examples now you probably recognize
these as brands for soft drinks right we
have Coca Cola and Pepsi now when you
see each mark on a can or a bottle you
immediately know the source
of the beverage now you also know that
it's not the competitors beverage see it
distinguishes them that way you don't
drink a Coke when you want a Pepsi and
vice versa
now coca-cola is a trademark in itself
but as you can see here it is also
displayed in a distinctive script and
the display of the wording in that
stylized form is also a mark Pepsi is
also a word mark but as you can see here
it is also shown in a particular format
and the combination of the wording and
the design well that's also a mark now
as you remember I said that a trademark
can be a word slogan symbol design or
combination of these things that's not
all
a trademark isn't limited to just words
and designs it could be a sound or a
color or even a smell pretty much
anything can be a trademark or service
mark so long as it identifies the source
of goods and services and distinguishes
them from the goods and services of
others yes Sandia looks like we have our
first question yes we do Steve asks if
there's a difference between a trademark
and a service mark great question
yes there is technically a trademark
identifies the source of goods like
shoes or laptops a service mark
identifies the source of services like
landscaping or accounting but here's the
thing in everyday language people often
refer to a service mark as a trademark
ok so throughout the talk today we'll
just use the words trademark and mark
for shorthand and if people call me mark
I'll try not to get too confused alright
so now that we know what a trademark is
how is it different from a patent or
from a copyright ok what breaks down
this way as we've already learned a
trademark is a brand for goods and
services and a patent on the other hand
protects inventions like new engines or
solar panels and the copyright well it
protects original artistic and literary
works like songs and movies and books
so although
three of these here can be used together
they don't protect the exact same things
so for example let's say that Samsung
has invented a new type of vacuum
cleaner right well it might apply for a
patent right for the invention itself it
could also apply for a trademark right
for the brand name that's used on the
vacuum and it might want to register a
copyright for the TV commercial that it
uses to market the product so those are
three different types of protection for
what are known as intellectual property
we've got brands inventions and original
artistic works now they're all equally
important and they all protect different
parts of your intellectual property
portfolio yes
Sonya looks at another question go ahead
Roger says he already has an Internet
domain name as well as a business name
he's wondering if that means he doesn't
need to worry about registering a
trademark great question Roger now I was
just going to get to those differences
perfect timing
thanks Sonya okay so I get this question
a lot and there's a lot of confusion
about it maybe because the word
registration is involved I don't know
but let me ask you this what is a domain
name anybody shout it out no need for
mic good great that's right that's right
it's a web address it's the wording that
people type into the address bar of a
web browser to go to your site or it
could be the hyperlink that people click
on to get to your site like USPTO gov or
copyright gov or one of my favorites tea
Marquis com tea marquee of course being
the official mascot of the trademark
office now most of you here are
businesspeople how many of you have a
website for your business good good good
good good that's great to see now now
when you register that domain name did
you use the USPTO to secure that web
address no right you registered it
through one of the domain name registrar
companies right where they advertise a
domain name for like eight bucks a year
or something like that right now that
means that you've secured a web address
it does not mean you have trademark
rights in that wording in fact if you
register a domain name that includes the
trademark of another party you may have
to surrender that domain name so a
domain name registration does not equal
a trademark registration but hang on you
might be thinking what about all those
companies out there that have dot-com in
their name like amazon.com aren't those
both trademarks and domain names yes
they sometimes are a domain name can
function as a trademark so long as it is
used in a way that it identifies the
source of particular goods and services
let's take a look at amazon.com now you
can see that amazon.com is used as a web
address here and it is also registered
as a mark for an online retail store see
right up here and down here
it is used as a source identifier does
that make sense okay good there is also
a difference between a trademark and a
business name a business name is just
that it is simply the name under which
you do business in a particular state or
jurisdiction if your state requires that
your business name is registered with
your specific state I'm sure most of you
have done so already however a business
name registration with your state does
not grant you trademark rights it merely
means that a particular state allows you
to do business under that name now can a
business name also be a trademark of
course just like a domain name it all
depends on how you use it
so if you use your business name to
identify the source of your goods and
services and distinguish them from the
goods and services of another that's
trademark use to enjoy the nationwide
rights offered by a federal trademark
registration you must file an
application and receive a registration
from the USPTO individual states also
offer to register trademarks but any
protection granted is limited to that
state so Roger
there you are to recap just because you
have a domain name and a business name
it does not mean
you have a trademark registration okay
you have to use those names as
trademarks in order for them to become
trademarks and to obtain the benefits of
a federal trademark registration you
have to make sure that you apply for and
get a registration through the United
States Patent and Trademark Office okay
great
now just to make sure that everything is
clear this is how it all breaks down
okay well you have trademarks are brands
patents are going to protect inventions
copyrights protect original artistic
works domain names are web addresses and
business names are just the entity name
under which you have permission to do
business in a particular state now
patents and trademarks are both handled
by the USPTO for more information check
out uspto.gov for copyrights you're
going to want to go to the Copyright
Office website which is copyright gov
domain names are handled by domain name
registrars check internet net for a list
of all those different domain name
registrars and business names you want
to check with your Secretary of State's
website and get more information there
okay so now that we know what trademarks
are we need to know why it's important
to register them with the United States
Patent and Trademark Office now a lot of
people ask me is federal registration on
my trademark required and the quick
answer is no but it will enhance your
rights so in the United States trademark
rights are created through use of your
mark in commerce right and not through
registration and these use based rights
are known as common law rights the
rights however are limited often to a
particular geographic area now in me and
that means it might be hard for you to
enforce those rights outside of that
limited scope and it might be hard for
other people to know about your rights
so federal registration is going to
greatly enhance your rights specifically
registering your mark is going to give
you the following benefits first it
creates a legal presumption that you are
the owner of the mark otherwise that's
something that you are going to have to
prove if you wanted to enforce your
registration in either in or out of
court - it gives you a legal presumption
of the exclusive right to
use your mark nationwide with the goods
and services that are identified in your
registration now that's in contrast to a
state trademark registration which only
gives you rights within the borders of a
particular state so federal registration
is going to give you a presumption of
rights throughout the entire United
States and its territories it puts the
public on notice that you are the owner
of the mark if there's a question as to
who owns the mark it can be looked up in
the USPTO s online database and that's
the fourth benefit being listed and the
USPTO s database means that others
considering potential marks can find
your marks when they search the database
to see if thier mark is available the
existence of your mark in the database
can help others avoid selecting a mark
that is too similar to yours in addition
the USPTO relies on the same database
for its own search and it will find your
mark when examining someone else's
application the USPTO will then cite
your registration against a confusingly
similar mark in a later filed
application preventing a potentially
conflicting mark from registering 5 a
federal trademark registration gives you
the ability to record your trademark
with US Customs and Border Protection's
that agency will use your trademark
registration to prevent importation of
infringing or counterfeit foreign goods
6 you have the right to bring legal
action concerning the registered mark in
federal court 7 you have the ability to
use your u.s. trademark registration as
a basis for applying for a trademark
registration in many foreign countries
it's a great benefit when your business
takes off and you become a global
phenomenon right ok and 8 a federal
trademark registration means that you
have the right to use the coveted are in
the circles symbol with your mark and
that's something you cannot do unless
your mark is federally registered that
symbol indicates that you have federally
registered your trademark with the
United States Patent and Trademark
Office it puts the public on notice that
your mark is registered and that you
have nationwide rights in it now it can
also serve to cut off the rights of
others who might
started using the same mark after you
applied to register your mark so as you
can see registration provides a lot of
benefits and it probably explains why
the USPTO has registered millions of
trademarks over the years okay so let's
see where we are you've decided that
your business needs to protect its brand
so you've determined that what you need
is a trademark registration and not a
patent or copyright and you've
determined that pursuing the benefits of
a federal trademark registration is the
right investment for your business the
question then becomes what's your
trademark do you have one already one
that you'd like to use or no idea at all
and you're open to any good ideas that
come along well before you apply for
federal registration it's important to
understand that not everything that you
want to register as a trademark can be
registered the USPTO examines every
application for compliance with federal
laws and rules and if the application
doesn't comply the office will send a
refusal letter known as an office action
now in some cases it's possible to
overcome the refusal but not always in
addition even if the USPTO registers
your mark it doesn't mean it won't be
challenged later on by another party so
to help you avoid those situations we
need to talk about what some of the
common pitfalls are and how to avoid
them the most common reason for refusal
and the most common pitfall is what is
known as likelihood of confusion that's
a likelihood of confusion between the
mark and your application and a mark
that is federally registered to another
party now typically the refusal arises
when two key elements are present one
the marks are similar and two the goods
and services of the parties are related
that is the marks look alike sound alike
have similar meanings or create similar
commercial impressions and in addition
the goods and services of the parties
are related in such a way that consumers
would mistakenly believe that the goods
and services coming from your company
and the goods and services coming from
the other company are all coming from
one source okay
so note that the marks and the goods do
not need to be identical okay they only
need to be similar and related all right
let's take a look at an example so what
if the mark X seed is registered for
agricultural seeds now you want to
register the mark X seed for live plants
at first glance the marks are not
identical and the goods are not
identical they are however similar and
related in particular when spoken the
marks sound similar see exede right the
USPTO considers all possible
pronunciations of a mark so both marks
may be pronounced the same way even if
one party may have intended the mark to
be pronounced differently in addition
the the goods here are related see that
is the same companies that sell live
plants also sell agricultural seeds as
such consumers are likely to believe
that both the live plants and the
agricultural seeds come from the same
company right the exede company now here
your mark will be refused and you will
not be allowed to register it with the
USPTO
you would have wasted valuable time and
money that you could have otherwise
spent on selecting a mark that is
actually registrable sonya looks like we
have a question yes we do Linda would
like to know if there are any situations
where identical marks can coexist
great question yes yes yes there are
generally two identical marks can
coexist so long as the goods and
services are unrelated okay so let's say
for example that the mark
Linda is registered for gardening gloves
but you would like to register the mark
Linda for photography services right and
let's also assume that that no court has
held that the mark the Linda mark is
actually a famous mark okay now
customers aren't accustomed to seeing
gardening gloves and photography
services coming from the
company so those goods and services are
considered to be unrelated and there is
no likelihood of confusion so yes in
some cases two identical marks can
register thanks for jumping in with that
question
that's Gopal thank you it's important
thing to keep in mind all right now to
help you avoid a likelihood of confusion
you should do what is known as a
trademark clearance search that involves
searching in a few places for use of
marks that are similar to yours and
remember you are typically looking for
use with goods and services that are
related to yours the first place to look
is in the USPTO database of federally
registered and applied form marks the
database is available on uspto.gov and
you can search for it for free using the
trademark electronic search system which
is known as tes now that's the same
database that the trademark examining
attorney zat the USPTO use when they're
examining an application searching for
conflicting marks now because tes only
covers federally registered marks and as
we discussed earlier there are
unregistered marks it's not the only
place you're going to need to search
other resources you should check include
state trademark databases and also
business name databases and you're also
going to want to look on the internet
when you're searching on the Internet
you want to do a search for websites and
articles that have similar marks that
are related to your goods and services
right now that's a lot of searching but
you should do it to avoid inadvertently
stepping on someone else's trademark
rights if you do they might engage you
in a legal battle claiming you have
infringed their trademark and if you
lose you might have to destroy your
inventory and all of your marketing
materials you might even be forced to
pay monetary damages as the small
business I'm guessing that all those
things are not included in your budget
okay so doing a pre-application
clearance search it's very important
there are trademark lawyers and
companies not affiliated with the USPTO
that you can hire to do your search for
you
trademark lawyer can also evaluate the
search results and give you a legal
opinion letting you know if your mark
should be available for you to
use and to register for more information
about searching and about likelihood of
confusion be sure to watch the trademark
information network broadcast called
searching Oh shameless plug and consider
hiring a trademark attorney for
assistance well we'll talk more about
hiring an attorney in a little bit so
that's one aspect of selecting a mark
you want to choose or create one that
isn't likely to cause confusion with
another mark another important
consideration is choosing a mark that is
legally protected from the start you
want a mark that you can defend against
others who might try to use a same or
similar mark now marks that are
immediately protectable are considered
inherently strong now weak marks on the
other hand are terms that describe some
aspect of your goods and services week
Mark's often are more difficult and
costly to protect and enforce than
strong marks the simplest way to think
about weak and strong marks is to
picture them on a spectrum or or on a
gauge weak marks are cold strong marks
are hot now the higher you move up the
gauge the easier mark is to protect now
as you can see there are generic marks
descriptive suggestive fanciful marks
and arbitrary marks and we'll go through
them one by one
the coldest or weakest marks aren't even
really marks at all they are generic
words that are incapable of identifying
source think bicycle for bicycles or
milk for a dairy based beverage these
are common everyday names for goods and
services and they are not registered all
by themselves descriptive terms are
warmer than generic terms but they are
still very hard to protect they directly
tell you something about the goods and
services think creamy for yogurt or the
ultimate bike rack for a bicycle rack
okay descriptive terms generally are not
registrable without showing that the
mark has through long use become a
source identifier now things certainly
get a little bit warmer when we get to
suggestive marks as the name implies
they suggest
something about the goods and services
some characteristic of the goods and
services think quick and neat for pie
crust or glance a day for calendars
these types of marks are registerable
and are the next best thing to the
hottest and strongest types of marks
fanciful marks and arbitrary marks
fanciful and arbitrary marks are the
easiest types of marks to protect
because they are inherently distinctive
and they immediately function as source
identifiers now because they are
typically creative or unusual it's less
likely that other parties are using them
for related goods and services right so
fanciful marks are invented words with
no dictionary or other known meaning
right think Xerox or Cisco or Microsoft
arbitrary marks are actual words with an
own meaning but the words have no
association or relationship with the
identified goods and services right
think Apple for computers blackberry for
smartphones or or gap for clothing now I
understand that marketing folks often
recommend adopting a trademark that is
descriptive because it immediately tells
the consumer something about your
product or service and from that point
of view sure it makes sense you don't
have to educate the consumers as much
because the mark already tells the
consumers about the goods but from a
legal perspective adoption of a
descriptive mark may end up costing you
more money in the long run see it isn't
immediately protectable and you cannot
register it without showing that
consumers have come to understand that
it does not just describe the goods but
instead it's become what consumers will
rely upon when they're looking to
identify or distinguish your goods and
services from the goods and services of
others think about how costly it might
be to develop rights in a descriptive
mark and to enforce those rights you
might need to give up the mark
altogether and start over with a
completely new mark now that could be a
very expensive road to go down
choosing a fanciful mark or an arbitrary
mark then is a great way to help
consumers identify the source of your
goods and services and just
English them from the goods and services
of others these kinds of marks are
immediately protectable they're not
always protectable however if you fail
to police use of your mark by others in
fact hot marks can cool over time and
may even become generic the words
escalator zipper and yoyo these were all
once inherently strong trademarks
because the owners failed to police the
marks or may have even misused the marks
themselves the marks lost their source
indicating power and became generic in
the United States
see once non escalator brand moving
staircases became known as escalators
instead of moving staircases the
escalator brand no longer had trademark
meaning it became the common everyday
name of the goods themselves it's
important that you select a strong mark
and continue to police it that's why
trademark owners continue to remind you
for example that you are photocopying a
document not xeroxing it and you're not
grabbing a Kleenex but a Kleenex brand
tissue and Google reminds you that you
can only Google on the Google brand
search engine make sense ok so those are
the two big considerations when choosing
a mark choose a protectable mark one
that is suggestive or arbitrary or
fanciful and be sure to conduct a
clearance search to avoid filing a mark
that is likely to cause confusion with a
previously used or registered mark and
there are other factors to consider
though some of these may also prevent
your mark from registering some of the
situations to be aware of include where
the mark is a surname where it is
geographically descriptive deceptive
disparaging or offensive a misspelling
of descriptive or generic wording or an
individual's name or likeness that is
being registered without that person's
consent a title of a single book or a
movie and matter that is purely
decorative or ornamental there are a lot
of things to think about yes mark we
have a question here from Conrad
he says he's looking to expand his
business overseas and are there any
additional things he should consider
when selecting his mark yes definitely
in addition to conducting a clearance
search in the country in which you think
you might be expanding into think about
how your mark is going to translate into
that country's language will it
translate into something generic or
offensive or strange you might have
heard the story about how Kentucky Fried
Chicken when it was expanding into China
it wanted to use its classic phrase
finger-licking good
well that apparently translates into eat
your fingers off so maybe not the best
marketing frames and keep in mind that
there are other possible considerations
when dealing with foreign languages if
your mark includes a foreign word of
phrase
how will it translate into English will
it translate into a generic word vino
for wine or is the English translation
likely to cause confusion with a
registered mark like Lupo for wolf dope
those are all things you want to keep in
mind
great question Conrad thank you that's a
lot to think about right now I'm not
trying to overwhelm you here but the
trademark registration process is pretty
complex it is technically a legal
proceeding and you have to comply with
all the USPTO requirements and rules
remember you're not buying a trademark
registration you're applying for one
that means if the USPTO refuses your
application your mark will not proceed
to registration and in addition you will
not receive a refund of your filing fee
the filing fee covers the USPTO s
processing costs it is not a guarantee
of registration right so keep in mind
though that the offices mission is to
register trademarks it wants you to file
an application that is perfect and ready
to go okay no requirements to fix no
refusals to be made the office wants you
to get it right the first time and
that's one of the reasons why they've
invited us here today so in order to
help you get it right the first time the
USPTO makes a lot of information
available to you on the USPTO website
it's in the trademarks section of
uspto.gov now you can download the basic
facts about trademarks booklet you can
see application timelines fa Q's manuals
is pretty much anything you want to know
about trademarks you can find it there
on the website it also has something
that I'm quite proud of a complete
series of the trademark information
network news broadcast videos starting a
particular Nabi headed newscaster as
well as a fantastic investigative
reporter and that series explains the
whole trademark application process from
beginning to end and links to that
series are right there on the website if
you have general questions you can call
or email the trademark assistance center
at the USPTO they're happy to provide
you with as much information as they can
and maybe they can point you to some of
the relevant materials that are on the
website the phone number is
1-877-443-6276
jurnee can obtain or conduct a trademark
clearance search for you
now you can conduct this type of search
on your own but an attorney who
specializes in trademark law can provide
you with a legal opinion regarding the
availability of your mark for use and
also for registration and it can help
you interpret the results to avoid
potential conflicts an attorney can also
help you navigate the application
process by advising you on what what
types of marks receive the most
protection they can help you draft in
identification of goods and services or
select the appropriate specimens to turn
in they can also help you in preparing
responses to any refusals or
requirements that the office may issue
basically a private attorney can help
you understand the scope of your
trademark rights and advise you on the
best way to maintain and enforce those
rights after registration from filing
the proper registration maintenance
documents to watching for infringing use
yes sonya jacqueline here says that she
would love to hire an attorney but she's
a small business and doesn't really have
the budget to afford it she wants to
know if any other options are out there
for her yes jacqueline you are reading
my mind thank you very much I was just
going to get to that so there are other
options most attorneys do charge a fee
for their services but there are however
free and reduced-priced options that
might be available if you meet financial
eligibility requirements for example
attorney Bar Association's often have
pro bono divisions where they provide
legal services to those who couldn't
otherwise afford them and sometimes
those services will include trademark
services in addition the USPTO supports
a law school clinic program through
which law students work in under the
guidance of a qualified faculty member
can assist you with your application
just go to uspto.gov and search for the
term law school clinic you'll find
information about the program along with
a list of participating schools there is
also free and low-cost business advice
through the score program run by the
Small Business Administration
check out score org and a score
volunteer may be able to assist you with
your trademark questions
another great program is the patent and
trademark Resource Center program or PT
RC program
now PT our CSV to house copies of patent
and trademark materials and to make
patent and trademark information
available to the public use the PTR see
page which is on USPTO gov and you can
find the location nearest you and all of
that is in addition to the USPTO website
resources I mentioned a few minutes ago
you can review all the materials on the
website for free 24/7 so Jacqueline if
you cannot afford an attorney
be sure to check for low cost and free
options and be sure to use all the
available resources and materials to
educate yourself as much as possible
about the trademark process for those of
you who are planning to hire an attorney
I can't recommend one and the USPTO
can't either but you can check your
local telephone listings you can do a
search online or check with your local
Bar Association
whatever you do make sure to hire one
that is licensed in the United States
and is experienced in trademark law this
is an investment in your business and
you don't want to waste your money on
someone who can't really help you yes
Sonya along those same lines Paula wants
to know about these trademark filing
companies that advertise online
she says they sound tempting but are
they worth it well you need to be
careful and read the fine print because
some of the companies out there charge
for unnecessary services or for services
that they do not actually provide now
companies may offer to help you with
your application and that's okay but
make sure that an attorney is on staff
and handling your case only a licensed
attorney should assist in the
preparation and filing of your
application now you also want to make
sure that an attorney from the company
will be on hand to handle any issues
that might arise during the application
process most applicants receive a letter
from the USPTO called
an office action that outlines any
issues with the application
and it requires a legal response now
because some of these trademark filing
companies do not include responses to
office actions in their initial coverage
and pricing you may find yourself
needing to pay more money to the company
or you may find out that the company
doesn't handle responses and you'll
either need to file the response
yourself or hire an attorney to do it
for you now be very careful when
engaging in business with these
companies make sure you understand what
the filing company lawyer will and will
not handle and what fees they will
charge you and by the way after you file
you may receive solicitations from other
companies the solicitations are often
made to look like they come from the
USPTO but they're really not avoid those
okay unless the correspondence comes
from the United States Patent and
Trademark Office in Alexandria Virginia
or from the domain at USPTO gov it's a
solicitation now the USPTO website has
information about these other types of
companies so be sure to check it out and
take a look at their provided examples
Thank You Paula alright folks well
that's the end of my presentation but
before I conclude and open up the floor
to more questions I want to review the
high points of what we've talked about
today a trademark is a brand it
indicates the source of your goods and
services and distinguishes them from the
goods and services of others federally
registering your trademark is important
because it provides additional benefits
and protection free mark including
nationwide protection selecting a mark
is incredibly important as you want to
select a mark that is inherently strong
so it's suggestive fanciful or arbitrary
and one that isn't likely to cause
confusion with someone else's mark
hiring an attorney to help you with your
application isn't required but it is
highly recommended if you can't afford
an attorney be sure to use all the
resources that are available on the
USPTO website and you can search for
free and reduced cost legal services
that may be available through various
organizations and most importantly
remember that your trademark is the face
of your business
when an executive at coca-cola was asked
what its most valuable asset is he said
that without question
it's the coca-cola trademark the company
could lose everything and be able to
rebuild itself based on the strength of
that trademark name alone see look at it
it's one of the top brands in the world
think about your trademark being that
important it makes you realize how
powerful a trademark can be now a
registered trademark is also something
that investors and lenders and
franchisees look for it is tangible
evidence of an intangible asset and it
shows that you're serious about your
brand now might it be hard work to
select and apply for a trademark that is
protectable and usable sure but if you
ask any single one of the companies that
is up here and the top 100 global brands
each and every one of them is going to
tell you that it is absolutely worth it
and who knows maybe we'll see one of
your trademarks up here on this list one
day okay so thank you everyone thanks to
the USPTO for hosting us on behalf of
Sonia and me thanks for coming and if
you have any questions feel free to step
on up Thanks
you