It is very disturbing to find someone with the name of your company, or one that is "confusingly similar." If you have taken legal steps to protect your name, you are in a much better position to protect your interests.
* If you are successful you will be copied.
I learned this lesson the hard way. When my partner and I began to tables, teapots (one trader in Acton, MA), we had no idea how successful we would be. After several years of hard work, a television --Function to chronicle and a story in Inc. Magazine has our business is booming. Then one day a customer came in and said: "I did not know that you opened in New Hampshire." Well, if we do not open in NH. But an enterprising counterfeiters had opened a store and called NH-Teapots tables.
We were lucky. While we had the rights clearly established in Massachusetts, we had not filed a federal trademark protection of designations used in other states. By an aggressive position, I wasable to NH imitators convince them to change the name of his company.
Legally, our "rights" to attach the name of the time we used it in commerce. However, we would have been on firmer ground when we registered the trademark.
Trademark / Service Mark Registration
Each word, phrase, name, symbol, sound ... identify or distinguish your product or service is sold out of these or other, is eligible for trademark protection. (Brand applies to products;Service mark applies to services.)
Make sure sure that your name is available.
Before you invest for a business / service mark, it is important to seek and to see if someone says the name or similar names. You can search online for the Internet domain name (www.networksolutions.com). You can www.uspto.gov), the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (. These searches do not guarantee that the name is not in use, but they are a goodIndication of availability.
Steps to Protect Your Name
1. Reserve the Internet domain name.
2. Use TM or SM symbols.
Insert the Trade Mark (TM) or service mark (SM) icon on your materials. So that the world is noticing that you are entitled to the mark.
3. Fill in your state.
In Massachusetts, the filing fee of $ 50 and lasts 10 years.
4. Fill in the USA.
The Federal Registration fee is $ 375, and upon approval, you can ® (available for useregistered trade mark), and the protection lasts, how to use the mark in commerce.
5. Register International.
International registration has become much easier with the Madrid Protocol (with effect from November 2003) that a trademark in several countries, which can be protected by a single notification.
Conclusion: If the name of your company, the introduction or trade mark is important for your business, then it makes sense to take action to protect them in law.
