Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York
Intellectual property - TM
I have a graphic designed logo for my company. On either side of the logo is the first and last name of my company. So the logo appears as ''fate (graphic logo) date''. When filing for a Trademark, should I just file the graphic logo or should I file it as ''fate (graphic logo) date''? If I file it with the name fatedate, does that mean I cannot just have the symbol appear by itself?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Intellectual property - TM
You can do it either way, but you should think about how future use will be affected. Paying an attorney to advise you on this would be a little money well spent.
Re: Intellectual property - TM
I advise that you register the word mark alone first. That is probably really your mark. If you register the logo that protects only the logo.
In other words, if someone uses your mark and you have only registered the logo, they argue they didn't take the logo , just the words. If someone uses the words, you're covered. If you register the words, they can't really take the logo cause it contains the words. they've taken the whole mark you registered.
Also, you have trademark rights in the logo from just using the logo.
In sum, register the wordmark, but if you have the money , the logo as well.