Every day in America, millions of business owners like you take steps to protect themselves from identity theft.<\/strong> Perhaps you shred your bank statements and keep your Social Security Number under lock and key. You delete suspicious emails and change your computer\u2019s password every week. One of the most valuable assets your business has is its good name \u2014 your brand name. Contrary to popular belief, incorporating your business DOES NOT protect your company name.<\/strong> I had to break this news to a client of mine recently. He had incorporated in Florida. And he was shocked to discover that the state of Florida had allowed another company to incorporate with a name that was almost identical to his company\u2019s. Unfortunately, he hadn\u2019t bothered to trademark his company name\u2026 allowing a competitor to use a confusingly similar variation after he had worked hard to establish his own business.<\/strong><\/p>\n When you\u2019re starting a business, trademark protection is probably one of the last things you want to think about. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve put together a brief free report on the ins and outs of trademarks. As an entrepreneur, I know you\u2019re busy . . . So the report is a quick, easy read.<\/strong><\/p>\n Get out FREE Report Now<\/a><\/p>\n And when you download this free report, you\u2019ll also receive a voucher for a free consultation regarding trademark rights for your company name or brand identity.<\/strong><\/p>\n Just how valuable is intellectual property like brand and product names? If you\u2019re just starting out, you may have very little brand equity. But as your business grows, so does your brand\u2019s value. The McDonald\u2019s brand is valued by Businessweek at 29 BILLION dollars. eBay is worth $7 billion, and Google, $17 billion. That\u2019s not the value of the businesses (equipment, buildings, inventory and the like). Just the brands.<\/p>\n And if these companies don\u2019t take the necessary legal steps to protect their corporate assets, they could lose them to a competitor.<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me tell you a sad, but true story to illustrate my point . . . Joe had spared no expense in creating buzz for his company\u2019s online debut.<\/strong> He\u2019d paid thousands of dollars to an ad agency to create a catchy slogan and develop an entire advertising and marketing campaign. He hired a fancy PR firm (spending thousands more) to create public relations buzz \u2014 news releases, media kits, the whole thing.<\/p>\n But when it came to protecting his company\u2019s name, Joe decided to do it \u201con the cheap.\u201d<\/strong> He surfed around online and discovered a trademark filing service that promised him a 70% savings over what an attorney would charge. And because this well-known service promised to \u201ccheck\u201d the information provided prior to a filing, Joe signed up immediately.<\/strong> He figured the service would notify him if there was any problem securing a trademark on his expensive new slogan. He was about to find out\u2014the hard way\u2014that the only thing they \u201cchecked\u201d was spelling and consistency in the application form!<\/p>\n So, having spent thousands of dollars to create and market his company (and its spiffy new slogan), Joe was shocked to receive a Cease & Desist letter from a competitor\u2014just weeks before his marketing campaign was set to launch.<\/strong> The other kayaking equipment company was monitoring Joe\u2019s trademark filing and threatening to file suit should Joe\u2019s company use the slogan in the marketplace. Why? Because, Joe\u2019s slogan was confusingly similar to the one used by the other company.<\/p>\n As you can imagine, Joe called the online trademarking service in a panic. He was devastated to discover that all the service did was \u201cprocess the paperwork,\u201d<\/strong> and they advised hire a trademark attorney.<\/a> (Which is, of course, what he should have done in the first place.)<\/p>\n A proper search and opinion<\/strong> by an attorney prior to filing for the trademark<\/strong> would have identified the potential problem long before Joe spent a dime to develop his marketing and PR campaigns. Sadly, by the time I heard from Joe, it was too late.<\/strong> There was nothing I could do to help him. He had to scrap all the marketing materials, news releases and advertisements that featured the now-abandoned slogan and start from scratch. So, how much did Joe \u201csave\u201d by hiring a \u201cdocument preparation and filing service\u201d instead of an attorney?<\/strong> Only about $600. (Ironically, that\u2019s less than Joe was prepared to spend on a single print ad.)<\/p>\n How much did it cost him? It was easily a five-figure mistake!<\/strong><\/p>\n Joe found out the hard way that obtaining a federal trademark on your company\u2019s name, brands, slogans, logos, Internet domains, or other identifying marks is the only way to legally protect your company against confusingly similar uses by competitors.<\/strong> It\u2019s the only real way to prevent a competitor from committing \u201ccorporate identity theft.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, federal trademark protection entitles you to use of the<\/strong> \u201c\u00ae\u201d symbol to identify your goods or services. And federal registration can also entitle you to higher damage payments and other remedies<\/strong> should you need to protect your trademark in a court of law.<\/p>\n And speaking of damages, what have you done to ensure that your company name and product\/service names don\u2019t infringe on another owner\u2019s trademarks?<\/strong> (At least Joe was lucky that his competitor sent him a Cease and Desist letter instead of just suing him!)<\/p>\n You can avoid potential civil fines and damages for trademark infringement by searching the records of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office before you start your new business<\/strong>. Before you hire a logo designer, invest in printing, signage, advertising and other expenses, be sure that no one else has already registered your business, product, or service names.<\/p>\n I cover all this in Protecting Your Trademark Rights.<\/a> It\u2019s free report that could save you thousands. And remember, you\u2019ll also receive a voucher for a FREE Consultation on protecting your company or product brand names.<\/strong><\/p>\n Another one of my clients (I\u2019ll call her \u201cJona Davis\u201d) could really have used a copy of our Free Report.<\/a> She thought she could protect her business by simply registering every domain name that was similar to the name of her company.<\/strong> (For the sake of argument, let\u2019s call it \u201cNewStartup.com.\u201d) In addition to the \u201cdot-com\u201d extension, Jona registered the.net,.org,.biz,.us,.mob,.info and.TV extensions.<\/p>\n I thought there was no way anyone could trample my company\u2019s good name,\u201d she told me. \u201cI figured, at $9 a year for each extension, registering the domain names is a bargain compared to getting a trademark filed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Somehow her \u201cdot-net\u201d domain name slipped through the cracks and expired without her noticing. She came to us when she discovered that a competitor had snapped up the expired domain name before she could renew it.<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the first things I asked: \u201cDid you file for a trademark to protect the domain name?\u201d That\u2019s when she explained that registering all those domain names was \u201ca lot cheaper than hiring an attorney\u201d to file a trademark application. So I asked her bout the new extensions that are available-like dot-cn, com.cn, ne.cn and others. \u201cAnd have you registered all the variations of your domain name that are available?\u201d<\/strong> Just off the top of my head I thought of . . .<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what about the .net, .biz, .org and other extensions for any of the above variations?\u201d, I asked. When her face fell, I had my answer.<\/p>\n Registering a domain name only prevents a competitor from using that EXACT domain name.<\/strong> (At least, until you forget to renew it.) But there\u2019s no limit to the number of \u201ccreative\u201d variations of your domain name your competitors can register\u2014leaving your business completely vulnerable.<\/p>\n A federal trademark would have prevented Jona\u2019s competitors from using the IDENTICAL trademark, as well as any confusingly similar variations.<\/strong> (You still may want to get a few other domain variations for good measure, but you don\u2019t have to go crazy if you have the federal registration.)<\/p>\n The truth is, domain names cost you money each and every year, whereas a federal trademark is forever. And you only have to deal with periodic renewals and other filings every five or ten years. Jona learned the hard way that her \u201ccheap\u201d solution was hardly a bargain.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s so easy to avoid the mistakes that both Jona and Joe made. Learn more in our free report,Protecting Your Trademark Rights By John Rizvi, P.A. \u2014 The Idea Attorneys\u00ae<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nBut what have you done to protect your business name?<\/p>\nDownload the free report today to learn:<\/h2>\n
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\nRecently, I took a phone call from the owner of an online kayaking equipment retailer. (Of course, I can\u2019t reveal his name.for reasons that will become clear in a moment. But for now, let\u2019s call him Joe) I could hear the frustration and fear in his voice.<\/strong> There was a touch of anger too (and frankly, after what he\u2019d been through, I\u2019d certainly be furious.)<\/p>\n
\nTrademark logo samples<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ideaattorneys.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/registered-mark-300x300-1-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
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