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Are you running a business and your goal is to establish a competitive brand? Well, we hope you will manage to succeed. But, you also need to be aware of the duties that you need to accomplish on a daily basis. One of the things that you need to protect is your business name, logo, and tagline. There are many dishonest people out there that could potentially steal your ideas, especially in cases when a business has the potential to grow.
A Trademark attorney is a person that can help you with this. But, before we move to the main point of this article, there is something we have to explain. Patents, copyrights, and trademarks are not the same thing. More precisely, they protect different things.
Trademarks are those that protect brands like yours. If you have an appropriate trademark, then no one will have the right to use your logo, business name, or anything else. Patents are something you can use for the development of innovative products. That way, you can confirm that a certain item is your invention. In the end, copyright serves as a confirmation of property for creative works. If you write a book or publish a song, with copyrights, no one will have the right to steal your work. They can ask for approval to use it and pay the money for it in case you accept their offer.
Anyway, finding a trademark attorney is not as easy as it seems. You can check out beardstclair.com and other websites to see how much the service of this type would cost you. But, price is not the only thing you should pay attention to. There are also some other questions that you should ask before signing a contract. Let’s find them out!
1. What Are the Requirements for Getting a Trademark?
This is the first question you should ask your attorney. Generally speaking, a good client will always be honest. He will tell you that things are not as simple as they seem. You will need to be unique and pretty creative to get the trademark for your business name and logo. For example, Philadelphia Barber Shop is not going to be approved. This is too general and descriptive and you won’t manage to qualify. On the other hand, you also won’t manage to get the approval of your logo or business name is similar to some other brand. That is not a direct copy, but the responsible bodies will not give you a trademark in those cases.
We do understand that an average entrepreneur may not manage to understand clearly all the criteria that have to be met. Because of that, you should let your attorney go through them one by one and tell you which things you should change or keep. That way, you can be 100% sure that the trademark will be issued to you.
2. How Does the Entire Procedure Look?
Before you even agree on collaboration, you should ask the attorney to help you understand how the entire process works. First and foremost, you will have to start the entire procedure with research. It is recommendable that you do that before you even go to the office of your future attorney. Check out whether the business name you decided on is free and unique. Apart from that, try to design a logo that does not have anything in common with some other brands.
After you do that, you will have to file and prepare the application. The attorney can explain to you which requirements you need to meet. If there are some issues, you will have to resolve them. On the other hand, if there is no one who opposes your application, you will get the trademark. The procedure isn’t difficult, but we are not sure you will manage to do it without an attorney. Because of that, hiring one would be a good decision!
3. How Long Does the Entire Process Last?
If the attorney tries to convince you that everything is going to be done in a couple of weeks, you should visit another one. Generally speaking, filing and preparing the application is the shorter part of the entire process. Something you will have to wait for is the approval of the so-called USPTO organization. In most cases, entrepreneurs will have to wait for several months to get approval. Unfortunately, that is the minimum length of the process. It may happen that there are issues that you will have to fix. On the other hand, it may happen that there is some opposition against your logo or business name. If these unexpected obstacles appear, the entire process may last for a year or two.
Anyway, there is a good reason why we say this. Why would you collaborate with a dishonest attorney? You have the full right to know all the information even if they are not nice. This can be one of the criteria when hiring an attorney. You will easily notice those that are probably not a good choice.
4. Are There Any Renewals?
Does your trademark last forever? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is negative. The regulatory bodies within your country need to know that you are using the trademark for the same purpose and context. Because of that, you need to hear an explanation from the attorney about the renewals.
Generally speaking, the purpose of renewals is to keep your trademark up to date. You will need to renew it after five and six years of registration. After that, you will once again need to repeat the process after 9 and 10 years of registration. Fortunately, things become a bit easier after that. You will need to repeat the process once in 10 years after that.
But, it would be unfair to generalize things here. It may happen that your case is unique. If you recognize something like that, then the best thing you could do is to hire an attorney. But, apply all the pieces of advice stated in the part above, and be sure you are making the right choice.
Conclusion
These are all the questions you should ask the trademark attorney before hiring him. Of course, you can get more information about the price. We do know that some people hesitate to decide on this move because of the money. We hope you will get the necessary approval with the assistance of the right attorney. Good luck!