Startups Stack Exchange Archive

How do I register trademark for my product name(s) in US?

• posted by: OMFSM on 2014-10-21
• tagged: united-states, intellectual-property, product, software, trademark
• score: 4

I’m working on a sofware startup. Before I launch my product, I want to protect the name. What is the process to register a trademark?

Answer 1078

• posted by: Matthew Haugen on 2014-10-21
• score: 5

You have three–probably–options:

1. Visit an attorney. That’s the typical approach. They’ll handle it. That’s probably the best bet, just since the descriptions can be a little tricky to get right. But it’s certainly not necessary.
2. Trademarks can be filed at the state level, in which case you’ll want to find out how to do that in your state. You could probably just search for it online: “trademark registration [state name]”
3. You can find the forms and complete registration on the USPTO website. You’ll need to do a search, which can be trivial or nontrivial depending on how describable your name or logo is.

Remember that trademarks also come in a couple different forms: namely they can represent words (“I want to register the trademark on my name”) or pictures (“I want to register the trademark on my logo”). So you may want to do one or both of those, for your particular case.

Answer 1189

• posted by: Jeremy Parsons on 2014-10-28
• score: 0

“Protect the name” can mean many different things. If cash is plentiful, hire IP lawyers to run searches and get applications filed. If not, do at least some checking for conflicts yourself, and help yourself to the unregistered trademark symbol (™), which costs nothing and puts a stake in the ground regarding your intentions.

---

All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.