What is a trademark?
A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol design, or combination of these things that identifies your goods or services. It helps customers recognize you and distinguish you from your competitors.
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You establish common law rights to your trademark when you start using it with your goods or services. Common law rights are limited and only apply to the geographic area in which you're providing your goods or services. However a registered trademark with the USPTO provides nationwide rights and protection.
Trademark Registration Timeline
The trademark registration process takes roughly over a year.
First C. B. Richie Law Firm will obtain information for you when you complete the client intake form. We will ask question about your business, products, and services.
Once payment is submitted and engagement letter signed, we will conduct a trademark search to mitigate risks that the prospective trademark is available, and no similar mark will cause likely hood of confusion within the same industry.
After the trademark search and provide a phone consultation and email discussing trademark results. Trademark search result take a week to complete.
C. B. Richie Law Firm we will draft your trademark application and send it to you for your final review and signature. Then we will submit your application with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The USPTO will assign an Examiner to review your application upon filing which could take over a year due to high application volume.
When examining the application the Examiner responses may involve an Office Action, a refusal, or questions, or the application may go on through without any administrative or substantive response.
Once all examiner responses are resolved (office action), the application then proceeds to Publication.
The application will be published for 30 days in the Trademark Gazette during this Publication phase of the process.
If a third party wants to oppose the application of your mark, it must be done within that 30-day publication window.
After your mark clears the publication process, the mark will be registered, which will take a few more weeks.
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