Understanding Trademark Incontestability and What It Means If you’re wondering what trademark incontestability is, it is a legal status available to certain federally registered trademarks after they have been used continuously in commerce for at least five years and meet other requirements. Once the required declaration is accepted by the United States Patent and Trademark […]
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What to Do If You Got a Call Right After Filing a Trademark Application Got a suspicious phone call shortly after filing your trademark application? It’s a scam. Fraudsters obtain specific application details and use them to contact business owners posing as government officials and demanding payment. How This Scam Works Here’s how this scam
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Trademark a Bakery To trademark a bakery, you register your brand name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) under the classes that match what you sell and the services you offer, such as baked goods, custom cake orders, or catering. Many bakery brands could benefit from more than one class, since retail
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Understanding Trademark Oppositions A trademark opposition is a formal challenge filed against a pending trademark application after it’s published in the USPTO’s Official Gazette. Anyone who believes they would be harmed by the new registration — usually because it’s confusingly similar to their own mark — can file an opposition with the USPTO’s Trademark Trial
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What Influencers and Content Creators Should Know About Trademarks If you’ve built a following around your name, your brand, or your content style, you’ve built something worth protecting. Trademarks aren’t just for corporations — they’re one of the most practical tools content creators have for locking in ownership of the brand identity they’ve worked hard
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Using a Trademark Before Registration — Here’s What to Know Yes, you can use a trademark before it’s registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You can even apply to register a mark before you’ve used it, as long as you have a genuine intent to use it soon. Both paths are
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Does a Trademark Registration Expire? A trademark registration doesn’t expire the way a patent does — but it can be canceled if you don’t maintain it. There’s no fixed end date. As long as you continue using the mark in commerce and file the required maintenance documents on time, your registration can last indefinitely. A
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Here’s What the New USPTO Serial Number Series Means for Your Trademark Application Starting July 18, 2026, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will begin assigning new trademark application serial numbers that start with “50” instead of continuing the current “99” series. This is simply a numbering update, not a change to how
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The TM Symbol: What It Means and When to Use It The ™ symbol means you’re claiming a word, name, phrase, or logo as your trademark. Anyone can use it — no registration required. It’s a way of putting others on notice that you consider the mark yours. TM Doesn’t Mean Your Mark Is Registered
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What Is the USPTO and What Does It Do? The USPTO — short for the United States Patent and Trademark Office — is the federal agency responsible for registering trademarks and patents in the United States. If you’re building a brand and want legal protection for your business name, logo, or slogan, the USPTO is
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What a Professional Trademark Search Actually Covers Most people who come to trademark research for the first time assume the process is simple: type the name into the USPTO database, see if anything comes up, and move forward if it looks clear. It’s an understandable assumption — but it significantly underestimates what a real trademark
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Trademark a Business Name in Two States — What You Need to Know Yes — you can protect a business name in more than one state, but how you do it depends on the type of trademark protection you’re pursuing. State trademark registrations are filed individually, federal trademark registration covers all 50 states at once,
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How to Trademark Your SaaS Brand To trademark a SaaS brand, you file for protection in the class covering software-as-a-service — typically USPTO Trademark Class 42, which covers software provided online and complete a comprehensive trademark search first to confirm your brand name is available. The process follows the same general path as any
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5 Trademark Questions Every Business Should Ask Filing a trademark application is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your brand — but it’s not the first step. Before you submit anything to the USPTO, there are five questions worth asking. The answers will help you file smarter, avoid common pitfalls,
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Trademark vs DBA — What’s the Difference and Do You Need Both? A trademark protects your brand. A DBA — short for “doing business as” — lets you operate under a trade name. They’re not the same thing, and one does not replace the other. Many businesses need both, but only a trademark gives you
How to Trademark an Acronym Acronyms make great brand names. They’re short, memorable, and easy to say. But when it comes to trademarking one, the answer isn’t as simple as “yes” or “no.” Whether an acronym qualifies for federal trademark registration depends on how the USPTO views the relationship between the acronym and the words
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What to Do When Your Trademark Search Uncovers a Conflict Finding out your desired trademark is already taken — or dangerously close to something that is — can feel like a setback. But discovering a conflict during your trademark search is actually a good thing. It means you found the problem before you filed, before
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How to Trademark a Dating App Brand Launching a dating app is exciting—but protecting your brand is just as important as building your user base. If you’re wondering how to trademark your dating app brand, the process involves choosing a strong name, conducting a thorough search, and filing correctly with the USPTO. In this guide,
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Your Trademark Search Came Back Clear — But Is the Result Actually Reliable? Getting a clear trademark search result feels like a win. It means your brand name appears to be available, and you’re one step closer to moving forward with confidence. But before you start filing paperwork or scaling your brand, there’s one question
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Can Two Brands Use the Same Name? The short answer is: sometimes — but that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Business names exist in several overlapping legal systems, and whether two companies can share a name depends on a lot of factors. If you’re naming a new business or protecting an existing one, this is exactly
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