Legal Love™: Here’s the 101 on Trademarking

Happy Valentine’s Day – it’s all about LOVE!

Love for yourself and for your business – and, of course, love for your beloveds on the work and home fronts.

You know I’m all about the LEGAL LOVE™…especially for your brand! ????

You may be cozying up on the couch under a blanket with registered Trademarks and wanting to get serious… but you still haven’t made the first move.

You might have cold feet about actually diving into a relationship with a Trademark… but you’re holding back because you’re still wondering:

“Do I even have something to Trademark?”
“Do I really need to protect my brand in this way?”
“I’ve heard it’s expensive… so is it actually worth the money?”
“Do I really want to go all in on Trademarking?”

In case you still aren’t sure, here’s the 101 on Trademarking:

What’s a Trademark?

When you hear people talk about having a “Trademark”, they’re usually referring to being approved for a registered trademark through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

In the US, a registered Trademark gives you full legal rights to use words in a certain context so that other people can’t use those words in a similar way for 10 years.

(Other countries have their own Trademarking laws and processes too.)
Registered Trademarks are granted for BRANDS which are connected to MARKETING and SELLING products or services.

What can you Trademark?

You can Trademark words, phrases, symbols, designs, or graphics.

So, if you’re an entrepreneur and you offer 1-on-1 services, group programs, online courses, physical products or some other PAID offer, you may want to trademark your:

• Business name
• Program or service name
• Product name
• Tagline
• Logo

In other words, you can’t get a Trademark for a hobby, a methodology, or an idea. It’s a bummer, I know.

So WHY Trademark?

There are many reasons, but namely, to:

1. Protect your brand recognition and prevent other business owners from financially benefiting from your hard-earned brand identity and value and mooching off of you.

2. Keep two unrelated brands from being confused by consumers in the marketplace.

3. Create an asset for your business which can have financial value.

4. Have legal protection you can rely on if someone steals your brand.Speaking of stealing your brand, it’s the equivalent of asking out on a date that- special-someone-you-have-your-eye-on and then having your rival come and steal them away right in front of your eyes.

It can hurt. It can make you angry. It can cut to the core. It can break your heart.

I’ve seen it happen. Dozens of times over the past decade that I’ve been working with clients. It’s not fun, let me tell you.

Don’t let that happen to you and your beautiful brand you’ve been working so hard to build, .

One of the BEST ways to support your brand is to give it the protection of a registered Trademark.

If you’re starting to fall in love with the idea of Trademarking so no one can come along after you and steal/copy/use your brand, then here’s your next step:

Start with Step 1: Trademark Search right HERE.

Questions? Just comment below and we’ll love you up.

Happy Valentine’s Day!