|
 For many business owners, a registered trademark can provide peace of mind that a competitor won't pop up with an identically named product or company. If you know you want to try to protect the name of your company, services or products, you should spend some time getting familiar with the trademark application process. Although a trademark can assist marketing efforts and provide some level of name protection, the trademark application process is time consuming and detailed, despite the presence of trademark electronic applications.
One of the first steps business owners need to consider is performing a search to ensure that their name is unique and likely to pass the United States Patent and Trademark Office's trademark application examination. Our trademark attorney can assist with this step if you don't have time to spend searching for potential problems. The next step is to file a trademark application with USPTO's Trademark Electronic Application System. USPTO created the Trademark Electronic Application System to streamline the process for filing trademark applications as much as possible. However, the process still takes time, and the online forms require precise details.
In addition to filing new trademark electronic applications, you can use the Trademark Electronic Application System to reply to any Office Actions that you receive. USPTO trademark attorneys send an Office Action when they have questions or find problems with your trademark application. You can also use the Trademark Electronic Application System to update your trademark electronic application if your personal information changes. If for any reason during the trademark application process you decide that you no longer want to pursue the trademark, you can use the system to file for abandonment, which means you no longer intend to claim protections afforded to registered trademarks. If you proceed with your trademark application and want to find status updates, USPTO provides another database, named the Trademark Application and Registration Retrieval system, that tracks your trademark application from the time the agency receives it to its final status as approved or rejected.
For business owners who are ready to submit a trademark application, you can choose to navigate the Trademark Electronic Application System on your own or hire a trademark attorney or service to handle the trademark electronic application. After you or your trademark service complete the trademark application, you can expect the process to take six months or longer. USPTO will assign your trademark application to one of the agency's trademark attorneys, who will scour multiple sources in search of possible conflicts. A conflict could arise if another company uses the same name you want to trademark. Also, a USPTO attorney might find a company, service or product name within your region that is close enough that the attorney decides that your trademark application would infringe on that company's right to conduct business using that name.
With those considerations in mind, many business owners would likely find the advanced search services that our trademark service offers to be worth the investment so that they can avoid a possible rejection from USPTO. The agency won't refund your trademark application fee even if it rejects your application. That's at least $275 at stake for business owners. USPTO charges that fee for each international class of each trademark electronic application. An international class specifies the category of good or services for which you want to protect your name. However, if you don't file a trademark electronic application, opting instead to file by paper, USPTO will charge you $375.
Our trademark attorney can help you minimize your risk of wasting that money. The trademark attorney can handle the trademark electronic application process, completing each electronic form in the Trademark Electronic Application System. In addition, the trademark attorney can handle Office Actions related to your trademark application. Office Actions are time sensitive and require complete and quick responses. If you wait too long, your application could be in jeopardy of being categorized as abandoned by USPTO.
If your trademark application moves smoothly through the trademark examination process, it will receive approval from the USPTO trademark attorney who reviews the application. It will appear in an official publication that USPTO releases on a regular basis. In that publication, USPTO lists all trademarks that it has approved and gives the public an opportunity to review those approved trademarks before finalizing them as officially registered trademarks. If someone reviews the publication and objects to your application, USPTO will listen to your appeal before reaching a decision about the status of the trademark application. Once again, our trademark attorney would be a valuable partner on your side to fight a formidable objection from someone reviewing the approved trademark applications.
If your trademark passes through the review period without incident and you have met all of USPTO's requirements, you will have a successful trademark application in your hands that delivers a registered trademark that you can use to protect your business' name or products and services.
| 
1-877-350-6275
