Are you trying to get your small business off the ground and build your brand? A strong trademark can help. Registering your company’s trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) can be an important part of building your brand and protecting it from competitors. But is it really worth going to the time and trouble to register your trademark?
Yes, it is. Registering your trademark now can make your business more valuable, and ensure that you have the freedom to expand in the future, even if you’re a small mom-and-pop firm now. A federal trademark protects your brand from competitors on a national level. It provides stronger protection than a common law or unregistered trademark, or even a trademark registered with your state. If you have to go to court to protect your brand, it’s much easier and cheaper to defend your case if you have a federally registered trademark.
Registering Your Trademark Increases Your Business’s Value
Registering your company trademark with the USPTO can boost the value of your brand and business. As customers become familiar with your trademark, they’ll recognize it in a matter of seconds. That’s the kind of brand recognition you can only get with a trademark. You’ll be able to use the registered trademark symbol, which gives your business an air of legitimacy. And if you ever want to sell your business, you’ll be able to command a higher price if you have a registered trademark.
You’ll Have the Freedom to Expand Someday If You Want
Have you ever heard of a little mom-and-pop restaurant called Burger King? No, not that Burger King. The first Burger King restaurant was opened in Mattoon, Illinois in 1957 by a family known as the Hoots. But when the Hoots opened their restaurant, they made the mistake a lot of small business owners make. They didn’t register their trademark. So, when a Florida fast food chain named Burger King started opening up locations in Illinois, the Hoots couldn’t enforce their trademark federally. While the Hoots did win their court case against Burger King on the grounds that they possessed an unregistered trademark under common law, the court ruled that the Hoots’s trademark is only valid within the state of Illinois. Because another company had registered the Burger King trademark, the Hoots couldn’t expand their own company outside of the state of Illinois, because they only own the trademark within the state.
When you register your trademark as soon as you start your business, you’ll guarantee that no competitor will come along and snatch it out from under you, like Burger King did to the Hoots. You may or may not plan to expand your company someday, but a federal trademark means that you own your trademark in every state, so if you decide you do want to expand in the future, you can.
You’ll Have the Strongest Possible Protection for Your Brand
Registering a trademark with the USPTO protects your brand from competitors. An unregistered trademark, like the one the Hoots had, might provide some protection, but it’ll be limited to your geographical region. For example, the court awarded the Hoots protection from their competitor within 20 miles of their restaurant’s location. That means that the bigger Burger King can’t open a new restaurant in Mattoon, Illinois. That’s it. That’s all the protection their unregistered trademark got for their brand.
When push comes to shove, you want to make sure your brand has the most protection possible. A registered trademark protects your brand from competitors on a national level. And it’s easy to register a trademark yourself using a service like Trademark Panda, so there’s really no excuse not to.
If You Have to Go to Court, You’ll Have a Stronger Case
Defending an unregistered trademark in court can get expensive. It’s much easier to defend a registered trademark, because you’ll have the appropriate paperwork proving that you own your trademark for exclusive use in every state. After five years of use, your trademark becomes incontestable, which means that no one can challenge your ownership of that trademark. When you register your trademark, you’ll be able to bring your trademark claims in a federal court, and you may even be able to countersue for additional damages and attorneys fees.
If you’re starting a business, don’t wait to register your trademark. The sooner you register your trademark with the USPTO, the sooner you’ll get federal protection for your brand – and that can make all the difference when you’re trying to grow a business.
