IT'S ALL IN THE NAME !
As soon as you uncover your Great Idea,
give it a name. Why? Because your Great
Idea is an important part of you and is therefore
worthy of
being named.
As you begin to commercialize your Great
Idea, select an easy to remember, catchy name.
Here are five CRITICAL steps in selecting the name.
[WARNING —
Do not
become too attached to the name until it successfully passes
through the following Five Step Process.]
Step One
Choose a clever name to serve as a Trademark or Service
Mark for your product or service !
Put on your thinking cap and come up with several names for
your Great Idea. The name you finally
select will be the Trademark or Service Mark
by which your idea will be known. A Trademark
identifies the supplier of a product; a Service Mark
identifies the source of a service. In the following discussion,
the word Trademark will refer to both Trademarks and Service
Marks.
A Trademark has two parts. The first part is a unique name
that identifies the source of the product or service. The second
part describes the product or service and is not unique.
[Example: STARBUCKS coffee].
The four considerations in choosing the Trademark for you
product or services are:
- The Trademark must be unique enough to distinguish it
from Trademarks of others;
- The more distinctive the Trademark, the easier to prevent
someone else from using a similar Trademark;
- The Trademark can be suggestive where mental steps are
required to figure out what is being suggested. [NETSCAPE is
suggestive of software which allows traversing the "landscape"
of the Internet.]
- ALERT —
Common words are usually not protected. These include:
names of places (California pizza); names of people (Jimmy's
ice cream: Smith's shoes); Descriptive (Digital computers);
Laudatory words (The GREATEST Coffee); and alternative
spellings (Lite beer).
Step Two
Determine if the name is available in your state ?
Your next step is to determine if your selected name(s) can be
registered as a Trademark in the state where you plan to do
business. A state trademark registration can prevent another
person from using your Trademark in that state, is inexpensive
and is easy to obtain. You can inquire at the Secretary of
State's offices as to whether your chosen Trademark is
available. If you uncover a registration of your proposed
trademark, you should select a new name.
Step Three
Determine if the name is available as a Domain Name
?
Your selection of a trademark that can also serve as a domain
name is very important. Most companies want a domain name
that is the same as or similar to the company's business or
product name, e.g., Sears.com for the Sears department store.
All domain names are on the internet at www.Register.com.
If the domain name you want is already registered, you can
choose another domain name.
WARNING —
Even if
your chosen domain name is available, you still have to check
whether it would violate some else's trademark.
Step Four
Determine if the name is available as a Trademark ?
To determine whether the Trademark you chose is legally
available, do a Trademark search for any registered or
unregistered marks that are: a) the same or similar to your
proposed mark; b) used anywhere in the United States; and c)
likely result in customer confusion with your proposed
Trademark.
A Trademark search is important because if someone else is
using the same or a confusingly similar Trademark for the
same goods or services as yours, they can force you to change
your Trademark and possibly make you pay for their damages.
Also, if you are planning to apply for Federal Trademark
registration, you will save a lot of time and money if you
discover that your proposed Trademark is already registered
for similar goods and services.
While you may ultimately want a professional Trademark
Search, you can do a search using free resources found on the
internet.
To begin, search the federal trademark register for Trademarks
that are the same as or very similar to yours by just logging
onto the free Trademark database of the United States Patent and
Trademark Office. Here you will find a list of all federally
registered Trademarks and Service Marks and all pending
Trademarks and Service Marks. The USPTO website is easy to
use.
Because Trademark ownership is based on who uses the mark
first, it is important to search for unregistered Trademarks and
Service Marks in actual use. This is called a "common law
search," and can be done on-line with an Internet search
engine such as Google.
The search just described is a starting point. If you are
planning to use your Trademark in an expensive advertising
campaign or throughout the United States, it is advisable to
have a comprehensive search by a professional search firm
and an analysis of the search by a Trademark Attorney. NOTE — No matter
how
thorough the search, there is always a possibility that someone
else began using your Trademark first.
Step Five
Register your Trademark !
Once your Trademark has cleared the previous four steps, take
ACTion. If a more
comprehensive search is needed, go to a Trademark Attorney.
If not, buy the chosen domain name and create an internet site
and use the Trademark on the site. Register the Trademark
with your state agency. File a federal trademark application
with the USPTO.
Your Trademarks and Service Marks are valuable assets, and they need to be protected.
