As a business owner, you always want to protect your brand. One of the best ways you can protect your brand is by obtaining a federally-registered trademark. A trademark allows your clients or customers to distinguish your brand from another. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a trademark “includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of others, and to indicate the source of the goods/services.”
A trademark protects your business from people who want to steal or copy your brand, also known as infringers. Without having a federally-registered trademark, an infringer can copy your exact idea and sell it as their own. They can even file a trademark application and claim that they had the idea first. Having a trademark, however, grants you the ability to stop infringers in their tracts and prevents them from copying you further.
Trademarks are also important because they protect you from having to rebrand your business. Imagine starting a company, designing a logo, building a website, and investing in a good marketing campaign only to find out that someone else has the exact same company and brand? You would be left with virtually no option but to rebrand. This means you would need to find a new company name, logo design, change all of your marketing materials, and so much more! Talk about a headache! Obtaining a federally-registered trademark should be one of the very first investments you make in your company.
Trademarks also add value to your company. If your company possesses its trademark, it owns intellectual property which increases the company’s worth. If you eventually sell your company, for example, the trademark would increase your company’s worth and place you in a great position to negotiate an excellent deal.
These are just a few of the many reasons of why a trademark is important to your business. The trademark application process can take 8-12 months, so it’s important to not to delay in hiring an attorney to assist you with obtaining your trademark.
