What's At Stake?

Do you want to be protected when you grow?

When you use a name or logo as a trademark without registering it, you do gain some level of protection from consistent use over time. This protection is called “common law” trademark protection. So if you already get some protection, why register? Well common law trademark protection is geographically limited. It only grants you protection where you’ve been using the mark. So, if you launch your business and you’re only really selling your products or services in the San Francisco Bay Area to start but plan to expand beyond that, you will not be protected outside of the Bay Area. Anyone could start using your mark in, say the Los Angeles area, or New York, or anywhere else in the country and you would have no rights to stop them. You would not be able to expand under that trademark into those areas. However, when you register your mark, the U.S. Trademark Office gives you immediate federal protection throughout the entire United States regardless of where you’re currently operating.

Are you sure that your logo is unique?

Another problem with not registering your mark is that generally means you also didn’t clear your use of the mark. When you have a mark cleared for use, a search is done of existing marks to make sure you’re not infringing on someone else’s mark. Nowadays people think that a simple online search will reveal all they need to know, but there are many registered trademarks that wouldn’t show up in a search engine. There are a number of reasons for this but you do not want to find out when you receive a cease and desist letter from an attorney for your unwitting trademark infringement.

Get peace of mind that you're protected!

If you find out that you have been using a mark that was registered by someone else in a similar industry, you have very little leverage to do anything but change your mark. The law doesn’t care that you didn’t know you were infringing because you’re responsible for making sure that you only use marks that are free to be used. Best case scenario here is usually that you’ll have to change your name and rebrand your company. Once you’ve invested money in domains, websites, business cards, marketing collateral, and most of all the customers that know you by a certain name, it is easily 10-100 times more expensive than the cost of clearing and protecting your mark in the first place. It’s also a huge headache that requires money spent on legal fees and time away from focusing on your business.

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