Trademark Basics for Small and Micro-Businesses
I often post on our Ladies Who Launch Yahoo! Group and speak out to small business owners about intellectual property. I have been getting a lot of feedback and inquiries as a result of my assertiveness. :) So, I decided to post some very basic information for those of you who might be confused. As I told some business owners who recently inquired:
This is a much more
complicated issue than I can fully advise on in [a blog post], but to answer your questions
as simply as possible:
- Registering your trademark places others on notice that you are CLAIMING ownership. Nothing short of a Court Order granting judgment in your favor “means you own it.”
- Registration might DETER use or copying. Nothing guarantees freedom from unauthorized use.
- Registration
is ONE piece of evidence that could be used in litigation to show you were the
first to use the mark in commerce.
I suspect my answers have caused quite a stir in your mind. As I said, this is a much more complicated issue than you might be led to believe. Trademarks are not like patents, trade secrets or copyrights, although people often lump all of the types of intellectual property together. The main reason they are different is that the federal government has not required registration of trademarks and service marks over the years. Having not completed my historical research, I suspect this is to keep commerce flowing rather than limit use of common marks, labels, etc. This is why you might see restaurants with the same name in various parts of the country, for example, or there may be a number of businesses that use “Big Apple” in their titles. You might also name your company Big Apple Business and register it thinking you own the trademark. But lo and behold, you get a cease and desist letter from a company in Washington State that claims it has been using the trademark for 50 years. If that company can prove its use began before yours, guess who probably owns the trademark…
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST AND ALL INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG OR MY WEBSITE IS INTENDED ONLY AS VERY GENERAL INFORMATION. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE. IT IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. EVERY BUSINESS AND EVERY PERSON HAS VERY UNIQUE NEEDS AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT CAN ONLY BE FULLY ADDRESSED BY AN ATTORNEY WHO HAS ALL OF THE INFORMATION. PLEASE CONSULT AN ATTORNEY REGARDING YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY NEEDS.
