Legal Question in Business Law in Massachusetts

Trademark

A client came into the office recently and informed me that he wanted to start a franchise business whereby he would franchise stores, under one name, (selling a particular type of used product). Know business entity has yet been formed for this enterprise yet he would like me to

"reserve" a particular name, say "X Stores" for the franchises he hopes to open in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The MA Sec. of State Corps. Dept. informed me that if the business entity is a Corp. I can reserve a Corp. name for upto 30 days for $15.00, but can any one help me if I want to reserve the name as a trademark or tradename as some other large well-known franchise companies.


Asked on 9/12/99, 9:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lawrence Graves Coolidge & Graves PLLC

Re: Trademark

State trademarks can only be obtained based upon actual use of a trademark. It is only under federal law that one can file based upon an "intent to use" a trademark. This is fairly expensive, so before pursuing that I would recommend that you first run exhaustive Web searches on the desired name; if nothing close to the trademark comes up, then you would want to have a trademark search company run clearance searches (costs about $300). Then, hire a trademark lawyer to do the application.

Outside the scope of your inquiry but also of great importance is the issue of regulation of franchises. If your client is running around promoting a franchise opportunity without first preparing a UFOC (Uniform Franchise Offering Circular), he is headed for serious trouble.

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Answered on 9/14/99, 4:51 pm


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