More practicing what we preach…. IPelton™ is now a pending U.S. Patent and Trademark Office trademark application for use with “On-line journals, namely, blogs featuring information and observations in the fields of law, branding, and intellectual property”. My application details are here in the USPTO records.
Note that the blogging tools for WordPress only include the “TM” symbol and not the “SM” symbol which should be used. “TM” is for use with pending applications and trademarks used in connection with goods or products. A blog or any online offering is a service, not something physical or tangible that can be stamped or labeled with a trademark, and thus is a “service mark”. Technically, the world of trademarks (often called marks’ for short) is made up of both ‘service marks’ ,which are use to identify or distinguish services, and ‘trade marks’ which are use on goods and products. However, most people today use the term ‘trademark’ to refer to both service marks and trade marks. Of course, once registered, both ‘trade marks’ and ‘service marks’ should use the circle-R symbol: ®.
Lessons: When establishing a new service or product brand name, file to register the name and properly use the “TM” and “SM” symbols.
