Bloomington, Illinois Businesses Use Cohn Legal for Trademark Services
Cohn Legal, PLLC is a trademark law firm that assists clients in Bloomington, Illinois with a variety of trademark and intellectual property law matters and corporate transactional work. The trademark attorneys at Cohn Legal love working with entrepreneurs to help them build strong, unique brands and corporate identities from the ground up. At the end of the day, we strive to make our clients’ lives easier.
Top 4 Questions Bloomington Businesses Have About Obtaining a Trademark
What are the benefits of trademark registration?
There are many benefits to registering your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO):
- Your trademark will be listed in the USPTO’s database of registered and pending trademarks.
- You can file a lawsuit in federal court in matters involving your trademark.
- Your trademark registration is enough to prove in federal court that you own the trademark. There’s no need to provide additional evidence.
- A trademark registration gives you the right to use the symbol, ®, with your trademark. This serves as a deterrent to anyone who may attempt to use your trademark without your permission.
What’s the difference between a fanciful trademark and an arbitrary trademark?
Fanciful trademarks are words that are completely made up and only have meaning when applied to an underlying product or service. Kleenex®, Oreo®, and Pepsi® are all fanciful trademarks.
An arbitrary trademark is a word that has meaning when used as a generic term, but when used as a brand name is completely unrelated to the good or service it is describing. Think about the word apple. It’s a generic word with a specific meaning. But when used as the name of a computer company Apple® becomes a unique and strong trademark.
What’s involved with registering a federal trademark?
In order to apply for a federal trademark, you need to submit a trademark application to the USPTO. The USPTO accepts trademark applications through the Trademark Electronic Application System or (TEAS), which is an online portal that you can access 24/7.
The trademark application will prompt you for some personal information; a photo of the name, logo, or design you want to be trademarked; what type of product or service you want the trademark for; and a sample of how the logo will be used in commerce. You will also indicate if your trademark is “in commerce” which means you’re using it currently, or if you’re filing it with “intent to use” which means you are not using it yet, but intend to in the near future.
An examining attorney at the USPTO will thoroughly evaluate the application and search the USPTO database to see if the trademark you want is too similar to any existing trademarks. If the examining attorney needs more information or identifies any issues with your application, you’ll receive an office action, which lists what issues need to be resolved before your application can proceed.
Assuming the office action is resolved or the application was in good order from the start, the examining attorney will approve your application for publication in the Trademark Official Gazette for a 30-day “opposition period.”
During those 30 days, anyone who believes that the approval of your trademark will harm their business may come forward and make a complaint. If no oppositions from the public are filed during that time, then your trademark will move to the final stages of the trademark registration process.
What is a clearance search?
If you want to register a trademark you should first work with a trademark attorney to conduct a clearance search. There are two types of clearance search.
- A preliminary knock-out search is a check of the USPTO records. If your desired trademark or something similar to your desired trademark is already registered by someone else, you’ll need to choose a new trademark.
- A full search will include a knock-out search as described above, but also involve searching through state trademark registrations, common law sources, and the internet.
If, during a clearance search, you find that your desired mark may infringe upon the trademark rights of others, then it’s advisable that you not use it.
Why Trademark Registration Matters for Bloomington Businesses
Home to Illinois State University, Bloomington is a vibrant town that’s proud of its heritage and its many contributions to important moments in American history. That pioneering spirit lives on today in the business owners and entrepreneurs who start their new business ventures in Bloomington.
Bloomington business owners aren’t afraid to work hard and adopt a “do-it-yourself” attitude when it comes to most aspects of their business. While that is an admirable quality, the one thing that startups should not handle themselves is trademark registration. They really do need to contact a trademark attorney to ensure that it’s done right.
Imagine the following: Jessica and Marni are two graphic design students in their final year at Illinois State University. They decide to start an online t-shirt business to make some extra money for themselves. They’ll each create the designs and work with an online vendor to print and ship their unique t-shirts to customers all over the country.
The town of Bloomington serves as inspiration for the name of their t-shirt company, Bloom City T-shirts. Jessica asks Marni if they should consider trademarking the name of their business. Marni thinks that they should just search for the name of the business online. No matches for the name pop up so they decide the name is available for them to use.
In the meantime, Jessica and Marni develop a website, set up social media accounts, and start designing and selling t-shirts to customers across the country.
It’s a year later and the friends have graduated from college. Now, Jessica and Marni believe they have the time to grow their business even further. They open up a storefront in the Central Business District of Bloomington and expand their offerings to include shirts, hats, and tote bags. A few months later, the friends find a cease-and-desist letter in their mailbox. It turns out there’s another clothing brand with a similar name. The other brand trademarked the name 5 years ago, so they are well within their rights to ask Jessica and Marni to shut down their store and not reopen until they’ve rebranded.
Jessica and Marni are devastated that they’ll have to shut down. They’re not sure they’ll be able to recover.
Conducting a Google search for your trademark is not sufficient. You need to work with a trademark attorney who can help you properly register your trademark.
If you have questions about trademark registration, then contact the attorneys at Cohn Legal for a no-cost trademark consultation.
** Cohn Legal, PLLC is not located in Bloomington and yet it can assist businesses from Illinois in registering a federal Trademark because trademarks are governed under federal law.