Ithaca, New York Businesses Use Cohn Legal for Trademark Services
Based in New York City, Cohn Legal, PLLC is a boutique law firm that focuses on intellectual property protection and trademark law for startups and entrepreneurs. Our goal is to provide our clients in Ithaca, New York with exceptional legal guidance and support at cost-effective rates.
Top 8 Questions Ithaca Businesses Have About Obtaining a Trademark
What is a trademark?
A trademark is any word, logo, phrase, design, symbol, group of words, etc. that identifies to consumers who is producing or selling the product or service that the trademark is attached to. For example, Pepsi is a trademark. If you see the Pepsi logo on a bottle or can, then you know the source of the product.
What is the USPTO?
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal office that reviews trademark applications for eligibility and maintains records of existing and pending trademarks. Contrary to popular belief, the USPTO is not responsible for enforcing trademark rights or protecting against trademark infringement. It’s the responsibility of the owner of the trademark to monitor the marketplace and protect their trademark rights.
When is the best time for me to register my trademark?
When it comes to trademark registration, the sooner you start the process, the better. The trademark registration process will help reveal if any entity has already registered something similar to what your desired trademark is. If that’s the case, it may be frustrating, but it’s better to find out before you invest in marketing materials, signage, product labels, etc. Once you settle on a logo that is unique, then you can invest in your brand with confidence.
How can I check on the status of my trademark application after it’s been submitted?
After your trademark application is submitted to the USPTO, you’ll receive a serial number. To receive an update on the status of your application, visit the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval System (TSDR) and enter your serial number when prompted. Or, you may contact the Trademark Assistance Center at 800-786-9199 and ask about the status of your application.
Do I need to register more than one trademark for my business?
Most businesses will need more than one registered trademark. For example, you may want to trademark your business name, your logo, and your product or service name. Work with a trademark attorney to determine which pieces of your intellectual property should be registered trademarks.
What does “used in interstate commerce” mean?
If you’ve only sold your product in one state, then you’ll have a difficult time getting it approved as a federal trademark by the USPTO. In order to obtain a federally registered trademark, the trademark must be attached to a product or a service that has been sold across state lines or is involved in “interstate commerce.”
How much you must sell isn’t well defined by the USPTO. You can assume that selling one t-shirt to a friend in another state won’t satisfy the interstate commerce requirement. However, selling 300 t-shirts to consumers in 3 states would likely satisfy the interstate commerce requirement. Again, the rules set forth by the USPTO can be ambiguous, so it’s best to speak to a trademark attorney for advice.
What is a trademark office action?
After the examining attorney at the USPTO reviews your trademark and your application, you may receive an office action. This is a letter that lists anything that’s wrong with your application or trademark.
Sometimes, the issues could be minor, such as a small error on the trademark application. Other times, the issue could be major, such as your trademark itself being flawed in some way. If you receive an office action, do not ignore it. You will have 6 months to respond, but if you don’t respond then your application could be canceled.
If you are unsure of how you should respond to an office action, then contact a trademark attorney for guidance.
What is the Trademark Official Gazette?
The USPTO publishes their online newsletter, the Trademark Official Gazette, every Tuesday. Once your trademark application is accepted and approved, the examining attorney at the USPTO will have your mark published in the Trademark Official Gazette.
Once your trademark appears in the Gazette, a 30-day “opposition” period will commence. During that 30 days, anyone who believes that the approval of your trademark will harm them or their business may come forward and oppose the publication of your mark.
If no such objections are risen, then your mark moves to the next stages of trademark approval.
Why Trademark Registration Matters for Ithaca Businesses
When you visit Ithaca, New York it becomes immediately apparent that the students and faculty of the city’s schools— Cornell University, Ithaca College, and Tompkins-Cortland Community College—are what makes Ithaca a fun-loving, diverse, and energetic community.
These educational institutions bring more than 30,000 students to the area each fall. Entrepreneurs see the opportunities inherent in the ebb and flow of the city’s population. Startups in Ithaca are usually focused on creating business plans and marketing strategies to attract customers to their businesses. However, they shouldn’t overlook trademark registration.
Imagine the following: Tim is a recent graduate of Cornell University with a degree in digital marketing. He’s ready to start his own search engine optimization company, with a focus on helping small businesses get discovered on search engines.
He calls his new venture Page One SEO Services. He knows that trademark registration is important, but he figures he doesn’t need to worry about that right now because he’s just a one-person operation. He moves forward with marketing his business, creating a business plan, developing a website, and opening up social media pages.
It’s not too long after Tim sets up his online presence that he gets a cease-and-desist letter in the mail. It turns out that there’s another SEO company in Sacramento that has a name very similar to Tim’s company. The Sacramento company trademarked their logo over a year ago, so they are well within their rights to demand that Tim shut down his operation or face legal action.
The lesson here is that all businesses, no matter how small, need to protect their trademarks and ensure that they are not infringing on others’ trademark rights.
If you have questions about trademark registration, then contact the attorneys at Cohn Legal for a no-cost trademark consultation.