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#trademarks

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When to Slap-On a ©, ™, or ® To Your Work? – Pt 3

You see them everywhere, but why do people use them and what do they mean?

Last time, we discussed the ™ and the time before that we discussed the © .  Now, it’s time to move on to the ®, which as many of you may or may not know, also signifies a trademark.  Again, a trademark is a word, name, phrase, symbol, sound, or even color that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods.

Let’s recap what that means in plain English!

From last time…
Okay, so there are a couple of parts to this.   It looks like anything can be a trademark from that long list of things that they have in their definition.  That is sort of true as long as it “identifies and distinguishes the source of goods” – which we will get to what the heck that means in a bit.  Some examples of trademarks: that apple with a bite out of it on your Mac, the roar of the MGM lion before the next movie you watch, the name “Kleenex,” or the phrase “I’m lovin’ it” for McDonald’s.  All of these different things are trademarks.

Now for the second part – it has to identify or distinguish the source of goods.  So, you come up with a sick drawing of a little alien dude.  You could register a copyright for that drawing, but you can not register a trademark for it at this point.  Then you decide that you are going to put this little alien drawing on your craft ginger beer…which you give away to friends at parties.  Still not a trademark.  Then your friends LOVE IT and tell you “dude!  you gotta sell this at the farmer’s market!” So, you do.  You start selling your Alien Ginger Beer at the local farmer’s market.

NOW you can trademark the little alien guy in connection with your ginger beer.  Why?  Because people will associate the alien with your COMPANY and with your PRODUCT.  When they go to Whole Foods (once you scale your product because of high demand), they will scan the shelves looking for your alien guy and will recognize your ginger beer because it has the alien on it.

This time…. 

You are ready to break out of your local market.  You want that distribution deal from Whole Foods.  Now, you might be ready to graduate from a  ™ to an ® .

So, what the hell is the difference between the two and why should you care?

Like with our copyright examples, MONEY.

The ® means that you have registered your mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Once you register your trademark with the USPTO,  you will be entitled to statutory damages if you prove that someone has violated your trademark.  You will also be entitled to attorneys fees, which can really add up, so it helps you to enforce your rights if you know you can get reimbursed for those costs.  Also, by registering your trademark you show any potential buyer, licensees, joint-venture partners, distributors, etc. that you take your product seriously enough to: 1) protect it and 2) invest in its future.

So, you can slap your ™ on there as soon as you start selling it.  If someone rips off your brand (intentionally or not), you can try to stop them but you probably cannot try and collect money from them.

You can’t slap that ® on there until you register it with the USPTO.  Once you register it, if someone rips off your brand (intentionally or not – sometimes it is completely innocent), you can try to stop them, you can try and collect money from them, and there are other options available to you as well.

There are a whole lot of reasons to start thinking about your trademark early.  So, if you think that you’re ready to graduate from your farmer’s market, or if you have questions and want to talk to a Lawyer-Human about it – feel free to schedule some time with us or shoot me an email at shreya@layroots.com.

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When to Slap-On a ©, ™, or ® To Your Work? – Pt 2

You see them everywhere, but why do people use them and what do they mean?

Last time, we talked about the © , which is for copyrights.  This time, we’re talking about the ™, which as many of you know, signifies a trademark.  A trademark is a word, name, phrase, symbol, sound, or even color that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others..

Plain English, Please!

Okay, so there are a couple of parts to this.   It looks like anything can be a trademark from that long list of things that they have in their definition.  That is sort of true as long as it “identifies and distinguishes the source of goods” – which we will get to what the heck that means in a bit.  Some examples of trademarks: that apple with a bite out of it on your Mac, the roar of the MGM lion before the next movie you watch, the name “Kleenex,” or the phrase “I’m lovin’ it” for McDonald’s.  All of these different things are trademarks.

Now for the second part – it has to identify or distinguish the source of goods.  So, you come up with a sick drawing of a little alien dude.  You could register a copyright for that drawing, but you can not register a trademark for it at this point.  Then you decide that you are going to put this little alien drawing on your craft ginger beer…which you give away to friends at parties.  Still not a trademark.  Then your friends LOVE IT and tell you “dude!  you gotta sell this at the farmer’s market!” So, you do.  You start selling your Alien Ginger Beer at the local farmer’s market.

NOW you can trademark the little alien guy in connection with your ginger beer.  Why?  Because people will associate the alien with your COMPANY and with your PRODUCT.  When they go to Whole Foods (once you scale your product because of high demand), they will scan the shelves looking for your alien guy and will recognize your ginger beer because it has the alien on it.

So, why a TM?  Well, that means that you haven’t registered your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  You can slap that ™ on there as soon as you start selling that ginger beer at the farmer’s market.  It puts the world on notice that you are reserving it.

BUT even though you’re reserving it, you could still be limited by where people would likely buy your ginger beer – so people in your local area.  No desire to get that Whole Foods national distribution deal?  That’s cool.  Maybe this is good enough, but if you’re ready for that next level, well, stay tuned for what happens with the ® .

Email me at shreya@layroots.com to find out if you are ready to slap this trademark symbol on your work or schedule a telephone meeting.

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You Learn Something New Everyday

First of all, I am very happy overall with how the “Is This IP?” talk turned out yesterday at Ballard Labs.  People seemed interested, attentive, and had lots of good questions.

This talk went better (I think) than the Joint Ventures and Due Diligence talk I gave in Phoenix.  Why?

1) I had had that practice as an excellent learning experience.

2) I felt more comfortable with the topic and the way I presented it.

3) I had some GREAT advice from my managing partner through How To Manage a Small Law Firm.

Things that worked for me:

I structured the talk like a story – I took people through the evolution of a product and illustrated scenarios that could actually happen to entrepreneurs as they start and grow their business.  I approached it in a more casual manner.  I bribed people with treats from La Foret Bakery thanks to my good friend Taryn.  I acted as though I were speaking to someone I know who does not know THAT much about intellectual property/the law.

Things that did not work for me: 

I did not do a good job in committing people to coming.  We had a decent turnout for the room and for my first endeavor, but I need to find a better way to commit people in the future.  I asked folks to RSVP, but even when I am having a party, it is difficult to get people to RSVP yes or no.  I need to plan my talk out better to have a clear conclusion. I spent so much time thinking about the content, I did not have a strong conclusion/take-away point.    I should have had a sign-up sheet for people to sign up for office hours or my list.  It may not have been appropriate this time, but in the future it will be a good practice.

All in all, the point of setting this up was to start getting my name out and have practice in public speaking.  I am sure that I will give this same talk again and I look forward to it.  It will only get easier.

Extra Learning Bonus Points:

I got quite a few interesting and thought-provoking questions from the audience.  It was awesome!  One question, however, was about something I had no familiarity with – International Trademarks.  I know how to file an international patent, but had very little information about the international trademark process.

I have since learned (and will get this information to the gentleman who asked ASAP) that there is an international application process under the Madrid Protocol.  It is all online.  There seems to be a fee for every country that is a party of the Madrid Protocol (there are 92 countries, I believe) that the applicant wants to file the trademark in.  The fees are dependent on what the contracting country has decided.  I am very glad that this was brought to my attention and I am currently downloading materials from WIPO to learn more.