Building and maintaining a brand isn’t easy. It takes time, hard work, and focus. So, protecting those investments in your brand makes sense. Still, many small businesses overlook the crucial first step – securing their trademark.
Trademarks are devices that businesses use to identify their products and to distinguish them from competitors. Sure, they identify and differentiate your products. But, more importantly, they represent your brand, which is the promise to your customers that builds brand loyalty.
The single best way to protect a trademark is Federal registration. Federal registration helps block the registration of other marks that are similar to yours. It also allows use of the ® symbol and may even help stop cybersquatters from registering similar domain names. But, that process can take several months – it involves the Federal government after all!
Still, you don’t have to sit idle. Here are five actions you can take right now to protect your good name and brand:
- Create a Google Alert for your business and product names
- Secure your domain name – even if you don’t have a website
- Claim your social media identity
- Confirm that you’ve picked names and logos that trademark law will protect
- Apply for a Federal Trademark Registration before you start using your brand
1. Create Google Alerts
An easy and free way to monitor for copycats is to set up a Google alert for your business and product names. If you discover a possible infringement, contact the offender. Alerts can also help keep informed about competitors if you set them up that way. See www.google.com/alerts for more information.
Tip: A Google alert will also help you maintain the health of your brand by alerting you to online comments about it.
2. Secure the Domain Name – Even if You Won’t Have a Website
If you want to spread brand awareness, keep customers up-to-date with the latest happenings or simply have potential customers learn more about your brand, then you’ll need a website. Securing a domain name that incorporates your trademark is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to protect your brand. Even if you do not expect to have a website, it is always better to have the option and to prevent others from taking your domain.
Tip: When choosing a domain name pick one that is unique, short, easy to remember, easy to type. Also, consider purchasing .com, .net and .org versions for branding. This will prevent anyone else from riding your coattails.
3. Claim Your Social Media Identity
It’s a good idea to claim a Facebook page and Twitter name early in the naming process. It is hard to oversell the importance of social media.
Tip: Set up a vanity URL for your Facebook page. Facebook will award a vanity URL once you’ve got 25 fans or “likes.”
4. Be Sure You’ve Selected a Name Trademark Law Will Protect
Trademarks are not created equal. They are subject to varying degrees of protection based on their “distinctiveness,” which is their ability to indicate source. A generic name will receive less protection than a name that is unique (e.g., “Uber” will receive very strong protection, while “car service” may not even be eligible). Also, common words may also receive strong protection if they are abstract or meaningless in context (e.g., Apple for computers or Amazon for e-commerce).
Tip: The more creative your mark is, the greater the odds that it is “distinctive.”
Read more about protectable trademarks here.
5. Apply to Federally Register Your Trademark BEFORE You Use
Registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is a critical step to protect any brand. In the old days, trademark owners were forced to wait to apply applying for Federal registration until they began using their marks. No longer! Today, the they can file applications before they start actual use.
Tip: Federal registration adds your mark to the Federal trademark database, which is the primary resource for trademark searches. This reduces the chances of a competitor unknowingly picking a name that is close to yours.
Read about trademark registration here.
Bonus Tip – Conduct Internet Searches for Your Name
Web searches and domain name searches can alert you to any existing use. Be sure to use several different search engines because they use different algorithms to collect and present search results. Also, search for names with and without quotation marks. This will get the most out of the different search algorithms used by the different search engines.
Ready to take the next step toward LEGALLY owning your Brand?
You worked hard to build your brand, and a trademark ensures you’re the only one who can profit from all of that work. Every brand has the potential to become extremely valuable, including yours. Trademark it and profit from it—it’s your right!
We have a simple, 5 step process we use to help our clients secure their trademarks. If you’re interested in protecting your YouTube Channel Brand, we invite you to book a FREE brand protection strategy session with us here.
For more than twenty years, Michael Kondoudis has been the go-to trademarking expert for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Michael is a USPTO-licensed trademark and patent attorney, educator, speaker, and author of the Amazon best-seller: Going From Business Owner to Brand Owner. He is also an authority trusted by national news media on major trademark stories.
Fun Facts: Michael is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and an actual rocket scientist (B.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Indiana University 1994).
