By: Michael J Foycik Jr.
The author is a patent attorney with over 28 years experience in patents and trademarks. For further information, please email at IP1lwyr@gmail.com, or call at 877-654-3336.
US & USPTO TRADEMARK GENERAL INFORMATION
Preparing a US Trademark Application
To start, the trademark owner will have chosen a word, phrase, or design as their trademark. The trademark is what is applied to the goods or services, and is NOT usually the company’s name. For example, a company named XYZ which sells garments will attach a label to those garments with a trademark such as the fashion designer’s name, and NOT with the name of their company. To claim trademark rights, the symbol “TM” can be used, preferably as a superscript after the trademark. Alternatively it can be written in parentheses after the trademark. Example: If the trademark is “Wise“, it can be written as Wise™.
A US Trademark Lawyer, also called a US Trademark Attorney, can prepare a US Trademark Application for filing with the USPTO. The US Trademark Lawyer will draft a trademark application using a description of the goods/services together with a drawing showing the trademark, where the “drawing“ is often just the typed word in capital letters. That format encompasses all variations of that mark, within the laws pertaining to how marks are used. For example, the typed drawing in all capital letters will encompass an infringing use of the mark in script letters, or as part of a larger drawing.
The draft application is sent to the owner of the trademark, and changes can be made if necessary. We do not add any additional charge for making changes to the application at this stage. When the draft is finalized, the owner signs a form claiming ownership of the trademark application. Once it is filed, it receives a Serial Number and an Official Filing Receipt, and thus becomes an official US Trademark Application.
At some point in this process, it is advisable but not necessary to perform a US trademark search. The US trademark search can find prior art trademarks that show the extent of the closest prior marks and whether the mark has been registered at an earlier time. If an expired trademark is discovered which is very close to the application, then that expired trademark might or might not mean the mark is available to other applicants. If a pending US Trademark Registration covers the mark and is in the same or similar field of goods as the applicant’s mark, then it is possible that infringement could occur. It is important to know if a product or service might infringe an existing unexpired US Trademark Registration. If no USPTO registration exists which covers the trademar, then it is possible that the trademark can be registered. As noted above, it is not necessary to conduct a trademark search prior to filing a new trademark application.
Read More >> http://internationalpatentservice.com/US-USPTO-Trademark.html
