Embark on a journey through the USPTO Federal trademark process with us! Our series breaks down everything from best practices for trademark searches to applying and ultimately registering your brand. We provide the essential knowledge you need to protect your brand from potential conflicts and secure its trademark.
Trademark a Product Shape Yes, you can trademark a product’s shape, but it falls under a specific category called trade dress and faces a higher bar than a word or logo mark. The shape must be non-functional, and product design cannot be treated as automatically distinctive — it always has to earn distinctiveness through consumer
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Yes, Sound Marks Are Registrable — Here’s What It Takes Yes, you can trademark a sound. The USPTO recognizes “sound marks” as a form of trademark, as long as the sound is distinctive enough to identify your brand to consumers — not just background noise or a common effect. What Makes a Sound Trademarkable A
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Celebrities Are Trademarking Their Voices and Likenesses to Fight AI Deepfakes Celebrities are filing federal trademark applications to protect their voices, images, and signatures phrases from unauthorized AI-generated content — and the trend is growing fast. You may have seen the headlines. Major names in entertainment have started using trademark law as a tool to
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What Happens to Your Trademark When You Rebrand? If you’ve recently changed your business name or you’re considering a rebrand, you might be wondering: Do I need a new trademark? The short answer is: usually, yes — but the specifics depend on how much your name changed, what your current trademark covers, and how you’re
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When Should You File a Trademark When Starting a Business? You’ve got the business idea. Maybe you’ve already landed on the perfect name. Now you’re wondering — do I need to file a trademark right now, or can that wait? It’s one of the most common questions new business owners ask, and the answer matters
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What to Do When Someone Is Using Your Trademark You built your brand from the ground up. You chose the name, designed the look, and put it on everything. Then one day you discover someone else is using it — or something confusingly close to it. It’s frustrating, and if you’re not sure what to
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How to Spot a Trademark Filing Service That Isn’t Legitimate Protecting your brand with a trademark is one of the smartest moves you can make as a business owner. But the path to registration has attracted a troubling number of bad actors — companies that look professional, charge real money, and deliver little more than
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If you’ve ever seen a symbol or logo indicating quality, origin, or labor standards, you’ve encountered a certification mark. Unlike regular trademarks that show a brand’s source, certification marks communicate that products or services meet specific standards. For small business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs, understanding certification marks can help you use them properly—or recognize when
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As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you pour time, money, and creativity into your brand. But have you considered how to protect those assets? That’s where intellectual property (IP) comes in. Understanding IP helps you safeguard your ideas, inventions, and branding, and it ensures your business stands out in a crowded market. What Is
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Trademarks in 2026: What to Watch 2025 brought change, lessons, and opportunity for brands navigating the trademark landscape. Several trends and events are setting the stage for 2026. Faster, Smarter Filings The USPTO reduced its backlog to under 350,000 applications, improving pendency for first actions and final dispositions. Streamlined claim sets and AI-assisted tools made
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Trademark Your Thanksgiving Brand Thanksgiving isn’t just about gratitude, turkey, and pumpkin pie —it also serves as a great reminder that creativity can be deliciously seasonal. Even the most playful or quirky ideas for products, services, or marketing campaigns deserve careful attention to ensure your brand is protected. Seasonal branding can be fun, but without
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Trademark Dilution Explained for Small Businesses When building a brand, most small business owners focus on creating a unique name, logo, or slogan. But even without intending to, your brand could unintentionally affect someone else’s well-known mark. This is where trademark dilution comes into play. Understanding trademark dilution is crucial—not just for protecting your own
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