When you start a business, your goal is to protect your brand and make sure others don’t steal your idea. If you can trademark your product, service, or company name, it becomes more difficult for someone else to use your trademark without authorization by law. Trademarks allow individuals and businesses to own words, names, symbols, and logos that they use in their business operations. If you have an idea for a new product or service that you believe no one has thought of before, file an international trademark application with the USPTO to protect your idea before someone else starts using it.
What Is A Trademark
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies the source of the goods or services and distinguishes them from others. Trademarks are registered by using a federal application filed with the USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office). In the U.S., there are four basic types of trademarks:
- A service mark protects only the source of services rather than products.
- A collective mark is a group name or phrase that can be used on various products and services.
- A fanciful mark is an invented term or symbol that doesn’t describe any specific product or service but has acquired distinctiveness as it has been widely used to identify products and services in the marketplace.
- A certification mark is a trademark that indicates that all goods bearing its marks come from one particular source.
How To Register A Trademark For Your Business
If you’re thinking about International Trademark Filing, there are a few steps you’ll need to take. First, you’ll need to decide what kind of product or service the trademark will be for and how it will appear. Next, you’ll have to figure out if your company wants public use or limited public use for the trademark. Then, you’ll need to get an attorney to review your application before submitting it with the USPTO.
Once everything is ready, make sure that your application has all the necessary information and submit it!
There are four types of trademarks:
- Trademark registration
- Industrial design
- Word mark
- Servicemark
International Trademark Filing
If you want to trademark your idea, the first step in International Trademark FIlingis an application with the USPTO. You’ll need to provide a description of your product or service, as well as a drawing, photograph, or other graphic representation of your product or service. Once you submit your application, it will be assigned a date for the examination. If someone else has filed an application for the same thing, your application will be examined along with theirs. If they haven’t filed yet, you’ll have to wait until they do before yours can be examined. If others have already filed, it might still take some time before their applications are examined and after that is complete, it might take more time for yours to be examined. After that point is reached and if everything goes smoothly in the examination process, you should receive your trademark registration within six months of submitting your application.