A lot of clients call my office to ask a simple question: “How do I get a trademark?“ I explain to them that in order to get a trademark they need to go through the trademark registration process. This process includes two steps: 1) Conducting a trademark search and 2) Drafting and filing a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
While there a lot of companies that claim you can get a trademark by “doing it yourself,” the trademark registration process is much more complicated than it appears. First, a proper trademark search must be completed. I say proper because it is easy to go on the Web and conduct what you think is a proper trademark search. Unless you have an attorney conduct the trademark search and give you a legal opinion on the trademark search results you will not know if you can get a trademark or not. There are too many potential pitfalls to detail in this blog, but I have seen them all. If you do not hire an attorney to conduct your search it is akin to self-medicating. Some people will always do it, but doctors go to medical school for a reason, and lawyers go to law school for a reason. Please leave your trademark search to a professional.
The second step to get a trademark is the filing of an application with the US Government. This is a legal document that should be completed by an attorney as well. Once the trademark application is filed with the US Government, a US Government trademark attorney will review your application and determine if your trademark registration request can be approved. This process can take 6-8 months. If the US Government approves your trademark registration request you will be mailed a trademark registration certificate.
In a nutshell, that is how you get a trademark. For more information, please call my offices at 1-877-350-6275 or click here.