Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Texas

Re: Trademark or Service mark

There are several steps, many of which are not expensive, which will help protect your mark. It is important, too, to make sure that no one else is using a mark already which is confusingly similar to yours--it need not be exact to create problems for you down the road. You should consult with a trademark attorney to explain these protections and surrounding issues.

Re: Trademark or Service mark

Before spending a lot of money on the new product, the best approach would be to first run a trademark search to see if anyone is already using the mark you have in mind. If the search comes up clear you can file an application for a trademark based on your intent to use the mark. We can do both of these for a single low price.

Joe Naylor

Re: Trademark or Service mark

You need either a service mark registration or a trademark registration or both. Both is best. You want Federal registrations, since those give coverage in all 50 states, rather than a state registration in a single state. Sometimes there are advantages, however, to filing at least one state trademark application to get a quick registration. You also should be getting copyright registrations on your designs, and are taking a legal risk if you are not doing that. Keep in mind that both trademarks and copyrights are automatice, without any application. However the rights obtained automatically are difficult to enforce in Court, so the registrations are very valuable when it comes to enforcement of your trademark or service mark and/or copyrights.

Get a lawyer that knows both trademarks and copyrights, and preferably one that also knows patents and preferably one that is experienced and preferably one licensed to practice in Texas. Look at www.burdlaw.com to find such a lawyer.