Siebay

Why should anyone register a trademark? We see many brand names in our lives through the media on a daily basis. What are the benefits of a registered trademark, or what are the risks of not having one? You need to register a trademark, because it is the legal method to officially protect a brand name, logo or phrase used on a product/service anywh... ere in the United States. Registering your trademark is the quickest and most cost-effective way to ensure legal exclusivity for the use of your name or logo. It significantly reduces the risk of being prevented from using your trademark by other people. Risks of Not Having a Trademark Registration: If you don't file and register a trademark, then someone else may register a similar trademark in the meantime, making it hard or impossible for you to get registration in the future. One of the most emotionally draining and expensive things that can happen to anyone who owns a trademark brand is to receive a "cease and desist" letter from a lawyer telling you to stop using the name which you thought you owned. Registering your trademark shows the public that you own the trademark and have exclusive rights to it. In addition, you can create rights in a trademark by using it in commerce. However, these common law rights have limitations. First, it can be difficult for someone to know whether you exist and have rights to a particular trademark without registration. Someone can innocently start to use a similar name or logo because they have no knowledge about your trademark. Second, the rights in a common law trademark are limited to the geographical area where the trademark has been used. For example, if a coffee brand is sold in California only, the trademark rights to that name exists only in California. If another store begins to sell the same coffee name in Florida (assuming they have no knowledge of the California company) and wants to expand nationwide, then they would discover that the California companys common law rights would prevent them from entering the ...Read More