Trademarks
Trademark law protects a trademark owner's exclusive right to use a trademark when use of the mark by another would be likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source or origin of goods.
Our Trademark Services
In addition to protecting and enforcing our clients trademark rights though litigation, we also represent clients in cancellation and opposition proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) and domain name disputes with ICANN, as alternatives to litigation.
Build Your Brand
Over the life of a business, trademarks are often the most valuable intellectual property assets. Protecting your trademark is an important step in establishing your brand. We can help you find trademarks for your business that avoid infringing others’ rights and help establish enforceable trademark rights for your business.
Trademark Infringement
In addition to registering and maintaining your U.S. and foreign trademarks, we enforce and defend trademark infringement actions in state court, federal court and in the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
What is a trademark?
Trademarks are the names, logos, and tag lines that consumers use to identify your goods and services. A strong trademark quickly and easily identifies your unique business and/or product to your customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
We Answer Your Trademark Questions
A trademark is any word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination thereof that identifies a source of goods or services. A mark that identifies services is sometimes known as a “service mark,” though it is often used interchangeably with “trademark.”
An attorney who is licensed to practice law in the U.S. and experienced in trademark law can advise you about many important legal issues. These include:
- Determining if your chosen trademark can be legally protected.
- Determining the appropriate filing basis for your trademark application.
- Preparing and filing a trademark application with the USPTO that is complete and accurately identifies your goods and services.
- Selecting an appropriate specimen that shows how your trademark is used in commerce
- Responding to questions and refusals to register your trademark from a USPTO trademark examining attorney.
- Helping you understand the scope of your trademark rights and the best ways to enforce them.
- Ensuring your trademark application does not adversely affect your other intellectual property rights.
- Defending against challenges brought by others against your trademark.
- Preparing and filing documents with the USPTO to maintain your registration.
- Although USPTO trademark examining attorneys can provide information about the federal registration process, USPTO employees cannot give you legal advice.
If someone registers a similar trademark with the USPTO before you do, they can potentially block your trademark from registering. In addition, even when similar trademarks are not federally registered, they could still prevent you from using and/or registering your trademark, or even worse, cause you to end up in a trademark infringement lawsuit.
A trademark attorney can advise if your trademark should be available for your use and registration and decrease the possibility of you having costly legal problems. We do this by conducting a comprehensive clearance search for potentially conflicting trademarks and providing a legal opinion prior to applying for trademark registration on the availability of the mark and potential infringement issues.
A comprehensive trademark search includes at a minimum searching the following sources for trademarks that could potentially conflict with yours:
- The USPTO’S database of federally registered trademarks;
- U.S. state trademark registration databases; and
- Sources revealing common law rights of unregistered trademarks.
Schedule a Consultation, File Your Trademark, or Ask a Question.