Trademarks for your Small Business – RGVMB Small Business Series

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My Facebook status Wednesday read:

My heart is aching today. I have to send out a Cease and Desist letter to a small business owner just like myself for using a name that infringes upon our trademark. Nonetheless, I can’t urge you enough that protecting (and trademarking) is important for your business. Off to find the courage to hit “send”….

I had no idea the interest my friends would have on this topic. After over an hour of texts, calls and Facebook messages from friends wanting to know about trademarks and their small business I finally had a chance to sit and reflect on what had just happened.

The back story ::

I sat down at my desk that morning and as usual, opened up my Etsy shop to reply to emails and get orders processed for the day when I saw a really cute thank you card come up in my recommended products feed. I was stopped dead in my tracks for a moment because while I recognized the shop name under the product, I didn’t recognize the actual product. The shop name was a variation of my own company name First Comes Love Then Comes Paper but the product was not one I had designed.

After a couple of moments of confusion, I saw that another shop had a store whose name was very similar (as in half exact) to mine.

So I scrambled to find my trademark certificate and to verify that in fact the other business owner was in violation of Federal Trademark law which protected my name. And because you can never be too sure, I contacted my attorney to confirm.

With the help of my attorney, I did finally hit that “send” button. And truth be told, I threw up a little in my mouth. And I was so glad that someone had shared with me three years ago a tip that I should consider trademarking my name.

It sounds silly to think I spent well over $500 trademarking my name. That money was money I had to scrape together and I thought I’d never see it again. I thought long and hard about my business and what it meant to me and my family and the name reflected my passion for what I do. Not just in my career, but in my life. It is way more than just a clever play on words, although that truly is a perk.

My small company name means a few things to me:

1.) The obvious reason, it represents all of life’s little occasions and the hope that for each one, customers would always think of me for their paper goods (invitations, thank you cards, etc.).

First Comes Love (wedding, babies, birthdays, graduations, retirement…), Then Comes Paper (invitations, signs, art).

2.) My mission statement in life is “Family Comes First”. Always. Period. End of discussion. If at anytime things get too crazy or hectic or I feel like business and work is consuming my life, I remind myself that before all else, “Love Comes First”. It’s about my family and my husband and my children and my mothers and my fathers and my sisters and my brothers and my cousins and my friends… I work for them.

And Chick Fil A.

No, seriously.

3.) Let’s be honest, my last name (Eggleston) is kinda cool. Kinda “different”. People always have a hard time saying it. It’s like they think they’re offending me by saying it so they say Eiggelston, Eagleston….

It’s got “egg” in there. It’s ok to say “egg”. I like love it. I kinda think it’s just another perk of being married to that sweet stud that gave it to me πŸ˜‰ And because I’m kinda a “glass half full” “sunny side up” kinda girl, I do like to make light of my name in any which way I can. For example:

Which came first? The egg or the chicken?

My answer?

Who really cares right? All I know, and all I’ll ever know, is that

LOVE COMES FIRST

Now,… while protecting the small company I have built is paramount to me and my family, so is knowing that on the other end of this whole ordeal is another business owner who is a wife and a mother who dreams of helping provide for her family while being with her family. Someone just like me. Quite possibly, someone just like you.

And so I think it is fitting that from the very beginning of your small business endeavors you should consider trademarking your business name as much as you consider the actual name of it. Because if you lose your rights to your name because you lacked the foresight or money to trademark it, your efforts in naming it will have been lost as well. And let’s face it, time is money. And the time that it takes for you to build up your business (think logo, website, business cards, domain names, etc) and your name is worth a lot more than you think. I’m sure that sweet mother who has just received a letter from my attorney that she must “cease” using the name she was building for over a year would agree too.

I know. I know. You’re dying to know just how to go about trademarking your own business name, right? Follow along and I’ll point you in the right direction!

Patent, Copyright or Trademark?

This is the first questions you will have to ask yourself. Are you needing a patent, a copyright or a trademark? While the below list is not exhaustive, it will give you a clearer understanding of the differences.

  • Patent – this relates to inventions and gives you limited property rights for a certain amount of time.
  • Copyright – this protects stuff of authorship. So a book, an autobiography, music, and works of art.
  • Trademark – is a logo, phrase, name, symbol or design that sets your goods or services apart from others.

What’s in a Name

After you have carefully researched your name and decided on one you need to know whether or not you need to trademark it. Here is a quick and simple tip. If your own name will be the name of your business, then you do not need to trademark it. In other words, if your business name is not your own legal name, then you MUST trademark it to protect it.

Research your Name

Google the name you have chosen and see if there are any other businesses selling the same or similar items or services you plan on offering. Also search that the name has not been trademarked yet. You can start by visiting the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) and searching their Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) for the name and variations of it.

Don’t be bummed if your name appears in the searches. It only matters if they are in the same industry and are selling the same goods or services as you are. So chin up πŸ˜‰

File your Trademark Application

If you’ve gotten this far then proceed with a trademark and claim it! The fee to do so if $275.

If you don’t do this you are essentially flaunting your awesome name to competitors and letting them know it is theirs for the possible taking. (ok, I’m being a bit dramatic but that’s just in my nature.)

You have to decide if it will be registered as a “mark” or a “stylized mark”. But you can have a lot of your questions answered on the USPTO’s help section.

This can seem a bit daunting to someone who has never trademarked before so you might want to consider hiring someone to help you along. I work with Renee Rodriguez Betencourt, a local attorney out of Edinburg, Texas, who helps facilitate any and all of my trademark issues. Though not a requirement, I didn’t want to risk the initial application fee ($275) and have to resubmit the application and the fee so I hired someone to do it for me when I did it a few years back.

Start using the “TM” symbol

While you wait (which can take anywhere from 3-12 months) you can start using the “TM” symbol in your logo! But it isn’t official just yet. Your trademark will be published in the Trademark Official Gazette for 60 days and if it is not contested here, it will be moved into approval and you’ll be given a date of registration.

Yippee! You are Registered!!!!

Now you can start using the “R” in your logo and now you and your brilliant name are protected! How exciting! Now order those business cards and get those social networking business pages going! It’s time to make some money!

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Β **Disclaimers
1.) All that being said, I am not an attorney and not well versed in Trademark law (or any other law for that matter). It is always best to consult with an attorney in any and all legal matters.
2.) You can actually use the TM symbol without actually having to file a trademark application. It does alert any potential “copiers” that you do consider the name your intellectual property. However, I don’t know the actual extent of protection this will allow you and it doesn’t necessarily stop someone else from registering the name.

Some links I found helpful during my trademarking journey ::
How to Choose a Great Business Name
Help for Trademark/Service Mark application
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Trademark Electronic Search System
Trademark Gazette
Navigating the Trademark Process
Trademark Registration – What Happens when You Skip it

Stay tuned for our next installment of The RGV Moms Blog Small Business Series. Tell us what you would love to have more information on that might help you in your small business.

 

 

 

 

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