One of the most common aspects of a business that binds to our minds is their logo or slogan. They represent the business in a marketplace and help users identify them. Logo, slogan, brand image, color, and an amalgamation of several other such things that uniquely represent a business to its customers can be trademarked.
Trademark aims to differentiate a company from its competitors to its customers that creates a strong image of the business. It helps to establish and expand the business as customer loyalty increases. It is an exclusive right over a mark that could be any of the mentioned aspects. It gives the license to distribute or sell a product of the company in the marketplace.
Acquiring a trademark is a crucial step to protect your interests while you enter the market. The process for applying and acquiring a trademark is simple but could require hours of your valuable time. It could divert your interest from your business operations, and hence, involving a trademark lawyer can help you get through the process with ease.
Here are three ways in which a trademark lawyer can help you get your registration easily.
1. Prior Research
A trademark is a crucial component of everyone’s business. It can be your road to increasing sales volume and profit margins in a short time. But before you work on your trademark, a prior search of existing trademarks helps to ensure you choose a unique and valuable slogan and trademark for your business. While you can search at your end, a trademark lawyer can help to make this process effective.
Trademark lawyers specialize in researching the existing trademarks of different companies and ensuring that your choice does not conflict with any other existing business. They ensure that your trademark is legally acceptable. They can compile a report to understand your trademark’s validity and help you make the required changes to strengthen it. They can provide the advice necessary to create a strong trademark, the true value of it for your business, and how you can use it to receive maximum protection.
lawyers can also give you the details about enforcing your trademark and how to respond in the case of infringement. They can also attend to your questions, clarify doubts about the importance of trademark, acquire one, and direct you on ways to leverage its true benefits.
The importance of having a thorough prior search is to avoid conflicts with any existing trademark owners. Sometimes the extent of your search may not cover all registrations. Some companies may have state-level trademark registrations that may not appear on a nationalized search, leading to conflict later.
Trademark lawyers can do a complete search to ensure that your trademark is unique. Also, they can search for any trademark infringement, in case you have any existing trademarks, and resolve the legalities behind them to eliminate any further damage caused by such issues.
2. Application and Registration
A trademark application requires submission from a proprietor or a trademark agent. It does not mandate the requirement for any lawyer in the process.
But for a business, hiring a lawyer would be the best way to go about filing this application to increase the chances of acquiring a trademark. The forms are easy to access and complete. But of course, you need to be careful not to miss out on any important details, and there might be requirements for certain documents.
In the case of a lawyer, their specialization in this segment makes it easy for them to submit a thoroughly checked and reviewed application without any mistakes. They know the technical know-how of the area that helps them to complete the process with much ease as compared to you.
Also, their experience gives them an idea of the entire review process. lawyers have an idea of what the examiner will be looking for in the application. They can make sure your application contains all the important elements required to reduce the chances of rejection.
Also, a trademark application is often required to be worded in legal language to ensure proper protection. A trademark lawyer can write the application for you based on the discussion about your requirement to ensure that you get broader rights to leverage the power of it. They can help you apply at the right level to protect your business interests, especially with the scope for future expansion in mind.
They can also help you devise the right Trademark office action. After review of the application, the examiner might quote objections that need to be resolved, and lawyers can help you through the process. In the case of rejection, they can guide you on the appeal and other alternative options available. They can help you understand the grounds of objection or refusal and resolve the problem better.
3. Enforcement
Some new businesses may not understand the value of registering a trademark. The extent of protection and power it can offer could seem vague in their case. Also, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the requirements of the trademark organization to successfully acquire one. Understanding what aspects of the business a trademark can protect can be difficult for a new business owner.
A trademark lawyer can help you familiarize yourself with these details. They can advise you on the many forms of intellectual property protection available on a local and global scale to guide you on the right applications and registrations. They have good knowledge of the area and can help you take the right steps to protect your company’s interests.
An important part of acquiring a trademark is enforcing. When you have the trademark in hand, a lawyer can help you understand how to use it to protect your business. They can look out for any infringements by other companies and assist you by issuing a cease and desist letter if you decide to prosecute. They can also advise and assist you if you have been issued a cease and desist order by any other company on the grounds of infringement.
Registering a trademark today gives you the liberty to reach to customers not just in the offline marketplaces but also through online mediums. With the help of a lawyer, you will be able to easily acquire a trademark with minimal effort.
They also come in handy, if you have been using a trademark for a while now and would like to register it. In this case, a lawyer can help you understand the eligibility and the process of how you can officially register the trademark to avoid any mistakes. They can make the entire process smooth and successful to support your business.