By: Deborah Sweeney
You’d be hard pressed to meet an entrepreneurially-minded woman who doesn’t consider Etsy to be an incredible haven for business. 88% of all Etsy sellers are women, according to the site’s November 2013 progress report, and 74% of sellers consider their Etsy shop to be a legitimate small business. And, because so many owners see their Etsy shop as a legitimate business, one of the most common questions they have is whether they need to protect their intellectual property with a trademark, patent, or copyright. I always recommend new small business owners err on the side of caution when it comes to IP protection, so if you are thinking about registering a mark or filing a patent but aren’t sure where to start, ask yourself the following questions.
Do you need to protect your logo or branding?
Then you should register a trademark. Now, you have the rights to a mark the minute you start using a unique logo, word, phrase, symbol, design, or any sort of branding, to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Technically, you don’t have to register a mark in order to claim it. However, if you don’t register a trademark with the USPTO, you may find it a difficult to enforce your rights to that mark, especially if the infringing party is outside of your home state. Etsy is a huge site, with international sellers and domestic shops from all fifty states. If your business is picking up, it would be a smart move to trademark your logo or branding before someone steals it so you can enforce your right to your brand.
Read more >> https://sheownsit.com/does-your-etsy-shop-need-trademark-patent-or-copyright/
