January 2020 | Venice Area Chamber of Commerce

January 1, 2020

Protecting your trademarks is important to grow your brand and prevent other companies from trading off your goodwill. Below are a few things to keep in mind:

Run searches to make sure that your mark will not infringe on an existing mark. Your trademark could infringe another trademark because it is spelled the same, looks the same, or even sounds the same.
Consider choosing a more “distinctive” mark to receive a higher level of protection. While marks that are descriptive of your goods or services may be desirable from a marketing perspective, they can be harder to protect as trademarks.
Make sure that the domain name is available for purchase. Even if the trademark has not been registered, the domain name may be in use by another company.

If the trademark is used in interstate commerce, a federally registered trademark would provide the most complete protection.
If the trademark will only be used within one state, state trademark registration may be a simpler alternative to consider.

Note that just because your company is registered with your State or because you have a fictitious name does not mean your trademark is automatically registered.