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Trademark Information and OverviewBusiness owners often fail to secure their intellectual property rights. This can lead to difficulties when a competitor decides to play dirty and infringe upon your business identity, branding and reputation. Obtaining trademarks is one way to put an end to such attacks. Trademarks and Service Marks Depending on the nature of your business, you have a choice of pursuing a traditional trademark or service mark. To pursue the correct choice, you need to understand the difference between the marks. A trademark is a distinctive item that is used to identify a logo, domain name, product, device or product. The trademark identifies the item as being provided by a particular firm or service. To protect these items you can obtain a mark from the patent and trademark office that prevents others from trying to gain an economic advantage from your mark. A service mark carries the same benefits of a trademark. Unlike a trademark, a service mark is pursued if you are seeking to protect a word or phrase affiliated with a service. For instance, Amazon.com offers a service, to wit, selling books online. Whereas Coke is a trademarked product, Amazon.com is a service and is protected by a service mark. The Value of a Mark Regardless of the type of mark you obtain, it is going to give you a significant advantage when fending off the competition. Initially, the owner of a mark is presumed to be the rightful owner, which means that your competitor has the burden of overcoming this assumption in court. The second benefit of obtaining a mark is that it gives you protection nationwide, to wit, the protection is not limited to the state in which you conduct business. Third, obtaining a mark simplifies your ability to bring a lawsuit against an infringing party. Finally, a favorable court result should result in an injunction against the offending competitor and a court order requiring your competitor to pay your legal fees. In light of these benefits, many trademark infringement conflicts are resolved by sending the offending party a letter identifying your mark and the ramifications of a lawsuit. How Long Does It Take To Get A Mark? Obtaining a trademark involves a lot of waiting. The Patent and Trademark Office is seriously overworked. You should expect the process to take at least 8 months and well over a year is not uncommon. Still, the benefits of obtaining a mark for your business make the process worth pursuing. ********************************** The above discussion is intended to be a general commentary on legal issues. Each situation is different and this article is not intended as legal advice for your specific situation. Further, nothing in this article is intended to create an attorney-client relationship. If you have additional questions, please contact me. |
