Frequently Asked Questions

It takes us anywhere from 1-3 working days to prepare a trademark application based on the time to complete the search and the application. Upon application preparation, you are required to pay the USPTO filing fee after which we file your trademark application electronically which can take 1-2 working days. The serial number is issued after the application is filed successfully.

Once you have submitted your business name or logo, our legal team will conduct the initial search and discuss the results via email or phone. The case filer will then prepare the filing application and submit to the USPTO. You will be able to track the approval status and contact us with any questions you may have while waiting for the approval.

The trademark approval times can vary based on a variety of factors. The USPTO is likely to respond in 3 - 4 months from the filing of the application. Despite the delayed approval time, you will be able to monitor the status of the trademark online as it's going through the approval process.

Yes. The USPTO allows one trademark—that's one name, one logo, or one slogan—per application. You can register a logo that includes text, but then the design and the text together are considered one trademark. Want them protected individually? You'd need to file two applications.

The USPTO trademark classification system divides all goods and services into 45 trademark classes—34 for goods and 11 for services. There are many goods or services that fall into each class, and they're not always obvious from the class name.

When you file your trademark application, you must select the class of goods or services that your trademark will protect, and you must also identify the goods or services you provide. Your trademark will only protect the goods, services, and class that you name in your application.

It depends on what you sell. The USPTO puts all products and services into 45 classes. Own a restaurant? You provide a service in class 43 (food services). Also sell cookbooks and teach cooking at the restaurant? You may want to register in class 16 (paper goods) and class 41 (education and entertainment services) too. Usually, your trademark protection is limited to the classes listed in your application.

Not necessarily. In some cases, someone may have "common law" trademark rights simply by being the first to use a trademark in commerce—neither federal nor state registration is required for common law rights. Someone with common law rights can challenge your use or registration of your trademark. For these reasons, it's a good idea to check beyond state and federal registries, such as registered corporate names and use on the internet. These are included in both the International and Federal, State, and Common Law packages.

A trademark search is essential as it uncovers marks that are similar to your trademark and used with related products or services. A trademark that is similar to yours and used with related products or services will block your trademark from being registered because it creates a likelihood of confusion. Doing a search before you file your application can help avoid expensive errors.

The USPTO does not guarantee registration. They approve or reject new applications on a case-by-case basis. Once an application is filed, no changes are permitted. The USPTO will not refund fees for rejected pplications.

Currently, we are offering three different types of comprehensive trademark searches for our customers. A federal trademark search, common law trademark search and global trademark search.

In such cases, you will be eligible to modify your mark to avoid any conflicts during the trademark registration process.

While the USPTO will prevent obviously infringing marks from becoming registered, trademark owners are responsible for enforcing their own trademark rights. In order to enforce your rights, you need to know when others are using trademarks that are similar to yours. Trademark monitoring gives the information you need to enforce your trademark rights.

If you are not monitoring who your trademark, you cannot fully enforce your trademark rights. This can result in others using your trademark terms and diluting the value of your brand. Someone else may even register a trademark very similar to yours, and you may miss the chance to oppose it! In extreme cases, it can also lead to a brand becoming “generic,” which may limit the extent to which you can enforce your rights in the future.

Once fully registered, trademarks generally need to be renewed by filing a Declaration of Continued Use. The first Declaration of Continued Use is usually due between the 5th and 6th anniversary date of the filing. The next renewal usually falls between the ninth and tenth year. Thereafter renewals are generally every ten years. Trademark Origin provides notice of the applicable deadlines and allows filing of the necessary paperwork via its personalized portal with just a few clicks of the mouse or with some minor updated information.

At the five-year mark, assuming continued use of the mark, we can also help file a “Declaration of Incontestability,” which provides additional protection under trademark law. This may prevent others from contesting the trademark on several common grounds, such as: the mark is not inherently distinctive; it is confusingly similar to a mark someone else began using first; or the mark is simply functional as opposed to identifying the source of the goods or services.

Often a trademark owner will send a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the infringing party stop using the mark. The infringement may not be on purpose and the infringing party may stop when notified that their conduct is in clear violation of another’s rights.

The infringing party may also ignore the demand or take the position that they are not infringing. At that point, you may consider a trademark infringement lawsuit. You should talk with an attorney if you believe a lawsuit might be the right choice for you.

Successful lawsuits have common characteristics and you should discuss with a lawyer whether any of these are present in your situation: The plaintiff is the owner of a valid mark - which is ordinarily presumed if they have a federal trademark registration.

The other side is using the mark without authority in connection with the sale of goods or services.

The other side is using the mark in a manner that is likely to cause confusion to reasonable consumers.

An Office action is a document officially rejecting a trademark registration application. Written by an examiner from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the document outlines the reasons why the application is being rejected and, if applicable, offers a list of additional requirements that must be met for reconsideration.

You typically have six months from the mailing date on the Office action letter. If you have not responded by that time, the application will be abandoned and you will need to start from scratch.

USPTO will update the status of your trademark application, and notify the contact person(s) on the trademark application, usually by email.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this. Your chances of successfully responding to your office action vary wildly depending on the mark you have chosen and the arguments put forward in the response.

Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.

Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.

Copyright protects original works of authorship, while a patent protects inventions or discoveries. Ideas and discoveries are not protected by the copyright law, although the way in which they are expressed may be. A trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, or designs identifying the source of the goods or services of one party and distinguishing them from those of others.

Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.

Registration is recommended for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation. Finally, if registration occurs within five years of publication, it is considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.

The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.

The United States has copyright relations with most countries throughout the world, and as a result of these agreements, we honor each other's citizens' copyrights. However, the United States does not have such copyright relationships with every country.

Copyright law defines a compilation as a “a work formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship.” In other words, it could be a unique way a collection of previously produced stories or songs is arranged in a video, or a group of essays compiled together by several writers to be sold as a single book.

Sometimes, you can register a number of works in a single application that protects each individual work, as part of what copyright law calls a collection or “group registration of unpublished works”. This traditionally applies to albums, collections of essays or articles, or collections of photographs all created by the same person. You can file a copyright registration for a “collection” if (you meet the following requirements)The work must be unpublished and a maximum of 10 works of a similar type of copyright may be submitted per application. For example: 10 poems, 10 photographs, 10 paintings, or 10 audio recordings can be submitted in a single application.

The elements are assembled in an orderly form. Provide a title for each work and submit a separate digital copy of each in a separate digital file.

You are both the author of the individual elements and the collection as a whole. All of the elements are by the same author, or, the same co-authors. In addition, the author and claimant for each work must be the same person or organization.

They are not works made for hire. For works for hire, you can only submit one work per application.

The content, code and design elements of a website can be copyrighted. You will submit a printed-out version of your site and the copyright protection will apply to the version submitted. Because websites are frequently updated, you may want to submit your revised version of your website, too. Registration of a revised version covers only the new or revised material added.

To be eligible for a copyright, there is a minimal amount of creativity in the work necessary. The hurdle, however, is not high. The best way to demonstrate is to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court case of Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991). In that case, the Supreme Court said that information alone, such as phone numbers and addresses arranged in alphabetical order alone, do not meet the necessary level of creativity. Likewise, listing of ingredients in a recipe do not qualify; nor do short phrases which are more likely to be protected by trademark. Raw data and facts are not copyrightable, but if you arrange them and describe them in an original way, your work may be protected.

Databases may be subject to copyright protection if the “automated database” requires effort and creativity to compile the data. If you re-compile publicly-available data and arrange it in a different way to discuss a trend or other original concept, your work will be protected. The underlying publicly-available data, however, may not be protected.

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