Angela, how do I register a trademark? I get this question a lot. I’m going to spend the next three or four minutes talking about this. I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I go live here to answer your trademark and copyright law questions. If you would like to know more, you can go to trademarkdoctor.net and investigate there, or to my YouTube channel where I have over 500 videos.
So today I want to talk about how to register a trademark. People call and ask me this question, and they really want to know what’s the process. So generally, it goes like this. We need to first figure out what mark you are trying to register and the goods and services that you want to use that trademark with. Now, often the proposed applicant has only a very vague idea of the goods and services that they want to offer in conjunction with their trademark, and that can be a little bit problematic because there’s a whole bunch of stuff that cannot happen until we know the goods and services that the trademark owner wants to use the trademark with. So the reason why we need to know this is because I cannot do a trademark clearance search until I know the trademark and the goods and services that the proposed applicant wants to use it with.
So when people come to me and they say, “I want a trademark for everything,” I have to explain to them that such things do not exist. There’s no such thing as a trademark for everything. So it’s really important to nail down the goods and services that you want to use with your trademark. That’s a fundamental requirement because not only do we have to identify those goods and services for the trademark clearance search, we also have to tell the trademark office when we file the trademark application, the goods and services that you will be using your mark with.
So once we have that nailed down — and that can take some doing — then I can do a trademark clearance search. It’s important to do this because I don’t want to file a trademark application that has no hope of registration. So if somebody is already out there using a trademark, registered or not, for goods and services that are similar with a mark that is similar, then we may get either a rejection from the trademark office or a cease and desist letter from the existing trademark owner if they become aware of my client’s usage. So that can also be an issue.
Now, once we have the trademark cleared, we can file the application, and that’s done at the USPTO website. And again, that is part of the reason why I need to know the goods and services with which the client is going to be using the trademark, because if I don’t have that, then there’s no way for me to file the application because we have to describe in pretty particular terms the goods and services that are being used with the trademark.
Now, once the trademark is filed and the fees are paid, we wait. These days, we’re waiting about eight to nine months for the trademark office to get back to us. So that can be a little bit frustrating because we don’t know what the trademark examiner is going to say until they say it, and sometimes that can take a while. When the trademark examiner responds, it might be with a yes, we’re going to publish your mark for opposition, and I’ll explain what that is in a second, or they could say no, we think your application, your proposed trademark, is too close to somebody else’s trademark that’s already registered, so we’re going to refuse.
We can always respond to those with a response to they’re called an office action. We can respond to the office action and give arguments in favor of the applicant’s trademark registration, or they may just come back with some housekeeping thing, things like, Oh, I need you to disclaim the descriptive part of the mark. I need you to better describe the design that you’re trying to register. There may be all kinds of things that they come back with.
Ultimately, though, what we want to do is we want to have the mark published for opposition. That is a 30 day publication period where other people can raise their hands and say, hey, I object to this trademark. It doesn’t happen very often, but it can. And then, for example, if nobody does that, then the trademark usually issues in about 8 to 12 weeks. So that’s the trademark process in a nutshell. If you’d like to have me help you with your trademark application, you can drop me a line. I’d be happy to do that. I’m Angela Langlotz, and I go live here to talk trademarks and copyrights.
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Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.
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