The following is an edited transcript of my video The Recipe for Strong Trademark Protection.
The recipe for strong trademark protection is a very simple one. What you need for strong trademark protection is a creative and unique name, register it with the USPTO, use that brand name properly, and enforce and renew it as needed.
The ingredients for this recipe are very straightforward and there’s just four of them.
First is starting with a bold brand name. If you have a creative name that is unique in your industry, you are already on your way to creating a delicious, strongly protected trademark.
Second, when you register any trademark, particularly a strong creative one with the USPTO, you are enhancing that protection and you are really adding to the strength of it. You’re getting to use the R with a circle registration symbol, you’re appearing in the USPTO’s database 24/7, and you’re having all the other benefits of a registration in any disputes.
The third ingredient is properly using the mark, and that is in part using those symbols. Before you’re registered properly, use the TM or SM to help identify the brand name and make it stand out. I suggest that you use it in bold, in a different color, or italics when possible, or a logo to really make it pop and stand out from the other wording around it so people know that it’s special and that it’s your brand, and that you want it to be strong and protected.
Finally, the fourth ingredient: Like having an experienced chef to put together all those ingredients, you want experienced trademark counsel because with their wisdom, talent and experience, they’re going to help make these ingredients work better for your brand, make it get through the registration process, and help complete the full picture for your trademark protection.
