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Have or would you register a trademark?

Hi everyone 👋

I'm considering registering a trademark but have no experience doing so. 

Does anyone have any advice they could share?

In particular:

  1. How did you register and what was your experience? 
  2. What was the timeframe - time before you applied + how long it took?
  3. Where did you register?
  4. Would you do so for future projects? 
  5. Did you decide not to register a trademark and why?

Thanks!

Sam Levy
@samlevy

👋 Join WIP to participate

Hey Sam, I applied for a few trademarks in both the US and Europe. Some for just a name, and others for the logomarks. Some accepted and some rejected. So I got quite a bit of experience now :)

  1. I registered through a trademark attorney. Send me an email and I'll introduce you. Cost was around $1,000-$1,500 per mark IIRC. Technically you could probably do it yourself, but it would require a lot of research and it's likely you'll make an error so I'd really recommend to have a professional do it.

  2. This varies. One trademark took many months because there was some back and forth with the examiner (the person that reviews the trademark application). Generally though I'd estimate about a month for a simple mark. It's mostly a matter of waiting for them to review it and giving other people a chance to oppose your application.

  3. At USPTO for U.S. trademark, and EUIPO for marks in the EU. I think they typically recommend getting it one regio first (e.g. U.S.) and when it's granted applying for the second one. I think because there's a way to fast-track the application if you already got it in the other region.

  4. For sure. It's relatively affordable, doesn't require much time, and helps defend against other people using your name. It can also help in getting domain names and social media handles. (but note that merely owning a TM doesn't grant you the right to get either of those. It just makes it easier in certain cases).

  5. A trademark needs to be dinstinctive so a descriptive name like "Startup Jobs" for a startup job board will be very hard to trademark. In obvious cases like that it's not worth even trying. If you're unsure, a trademark attorney can help you figure that out as well.

Let me know how it goes and feel free to email me for more specific help ( [email protected] ). I've been considering for a while to partner up with my trademark attorney to offer their services to WIP members as it seems like a lot of people need a TM.

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Sam Levy
@samlevy

Wow. Thank you so much for the detailed answer, Marc! It's super helpful.

Additional question: How early do you usually start the reg. process? Would you get the ball rolling before launching a beta product?

I’ll email you tomorrow about an intro with the attorney :)

 Reply

Great question. I tend to do it after a while once I know the idea has legs. But if you want to be safe or you're already commited, then I'd just go ahead right now

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