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Will You Add? - Small Businesses with BIG NAMES: Protect Your Trademarks and Reap the Rewards
It was a noble effort, even if I was naive. Last week I returned from a thirty-day trip to Germany, China, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In each country, I led Skilled Facilitator workshops. Some of you reading this participated in these workshops.For years, my clients have asked, "What do people outside the United States think about The Skilled Facilitator approach? Can it work in Europe and Asia, especially given the emphasis on saving face? How?" I set out on my trip, naively thinking that I could come back with ready answers. I have begun to form some answers; but mostly, I have developed more questions. If I have learned anything on the trip, it's that t
In order to appreciate the benefits of using these new services, let’s continue with the scenario from earlier. You have selected a name and you are weighing your trademark options. You may have read an article on trademarks that suggested you
There are dozens of meetings that take place every day in organizations. There are informal spur-of-the-moment meetings. There are weekly staff update meetings. There are monthly executive meetings. And there are board meetings, training meetings, strategic planning retreats, meetings with clients, staff and suppliers.Most meetings generally take too long, cover too little, end without specific plans, objectives or outcomes and waste time, money and resources. I believe that “meeting” is an important business function. Meetings get people together to share information, ideas, problems, activities and feelings.There are a few key elements to consider when planning or
There are two excellent reasons to protect a trademark as soon as possible, even for small businesses that operate in a limited area. The first is that a professionally prepared trademark conflict search will help you identify existing trademarks to avoid infringement. Discovering a conflict ahead of your launch will allow you to change names before investing in promotional materials and advertising, and building recognition of a name you may have to change later. The last thing your new business or project needs is a lawsuit during the startup stage.
On the plus side, discovering a conflict may offer an opportunity to create a new name that distinguishes you from existing “brands” and projects your unique value proposition. Speaking of branding opportunities, the second reason to protect your trademark even if you operate in a limited area is to prepare for nationwide expansion of your business. With the shift toward online marketing and commerce, even the smallest businesses are finding larger markets to expand into. Also, registering the mark with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office gives public notice of your trademark rights, protects the mark nationwide, and discourages infringement with heavier penalties.
Now that we know it’s important to protect trademarks, let’s examine a new option for professional trademark assistance at significant savings over the traditional law firm fees. A new breed of firms called Trademark Service Providers specialize in trademark research and related services, offering them to small businesses and entrepreneurs without the typical legal fees. While they do not represent clients in court or provide legal advice, they can perform the specialized research necessary to check for conflicts. Some firms also prepare trademark applications and provide ongoing infringement searches. A few providers even offer creative naming services to help clients with the naming process.
In order to appreciate the benefits of using these new services, let’s continue with the scenario from earlier. You have selected a name and you are weighing your trademark options. You may have read an article on trademarks that suggested you
Through out our career and lives we regularly get an opportunity to meet new people and form new relationships. Did you know you have seven seconds to make a first impression? Apparently in those seven seconds people assess your age, income, marital status, education level and interests – in seven seconds! Regardless of whether people are right about their perception of you… we all subconsciously make assessments of people when we meet them. To ensure you make an outstanding impression every time… try some of these tips.Appear confident. There’s an element of ‘fake it ‘till you make it’ here. Smile when you first meet someone and look him or her in the eye. Even if
On the plus side, discovering a conflict may offer an opportunity to create a new name that distinguishes you from existing “brands” and projects your unique value proposition. Speaking of branding opportunities, the second reason to protect your trademark even if you operate in a limited area is to prepare for nationwide expansion of your business. With the shift toward online marketing and commerce, even the smallest businesses are finding larger markets to expand into. Also, registering the mark with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office gives public notice of your trademark rights, protects the mark nationwide, and discourages infringement with heavier penalties.
Now that we know it’s important to protect trademarks, let’s examine a new option for professional trademark assistance at significant savings over the traditional law firm fees. A new breed of firms called Trademark Service Providers specialize in trademark research and related services, offering them to small businesses and entrepreneurs without the typical legal fees. While they do not represent clients in court or provide legal advice, they can perform the specialized research necessary to check for conflicts. Some firms also prepare trademark applications and provide ongoing infringement searches. A few providers even offer creative naming services to help clients with the naming process.
In order to appreciate the benefits of using these new services, let’s continue with the scenario from earlier. You have selected a name and you are weighing your trademark options. You may have read an article on trademarks that suggested you
Direct Marketing is no different that marketing or marketing online with a couple of exceptions. Your marketing pieces get into the hands of the buyer and they need to be well incentivized to not hit the trash can in a hurry. American Express, for example, has had several new a innovative consumer direct marketing campaigns on the go. I was the lucky recipient of the Origami campaign. This campaign had a folding card with ways to fold up unused checks. It even included Origami paper to practice the folding. Needless to say, it caught my attention but did the message really get across? Well, the result for me was to keep the Origami paper and instructions and toss the other
Now that we know it’s important to protect trademarks, let’s examine a new option for professional trademark assistance at significant savings over the traditional law firm fees. A new breed of firms called Trademark Service Providers specialize in trademark research and related services, offering them to small businesses and entrepreneurs without the typical legal fees. While they do not represent clients in court or provide legal advice, they can perform the specialized research necessary to check for conflicts. Some firms also prepare trademark applications and provide ongoing infringement searches. A few providers even offer creative naming services to help clients with the naming process.
In order to appreciate the benefits of using these new services, let’s continue with the scenario from earlier. You have selected a name and you are weighing your trademark options. You may have read an article on trademarks that suggested you
Lately at the RV lots salesmen have been telling me that things are tougher than ever before, still many of these self-starter, perpetually motivated sales people are not discouraged, yet are a little concerned with the scarcity of buyers coming on to the Recreational Vehicle sales lots these days and the extreme discounting of competitors both regionally and nationally. What is a sales person suppose to do? Well never admit defeat, disregard the industry trends and deny the competition the sale. How so you ask?Well as a sales person, it is up to you to make sales and that is regardless to what is going on in the industry. Sure an RV sales person must address the fuel costs
Now that we know it’s important to protect trademarks, let’s examine a new option for professional trademark assistance at significant savings over the traditional law firm fees. A new breed of firms called Trademark Service Providers specialize in trademark research and related services, offering them to small businesses and entrepreneurs without the typical legal fees. While they do not represent clients in court or provide legal advice, they can perform the specialized research necessary to check for conflicts. Some firms also prepare trademark applications and provide ongoing infringement searches. A few providers even offer creative naming services to help clients with the naming process.
In order to appreciate the benefits of using these new services, let’s continue with the scenario from earlier. You have selected a name and you are weighing your trademark options. You may have read an article on trademarks that suggested you
While this might seem like a dog story it really isn’t. It is about salespeople who find they are working like a dog and getting little or no results. In some cases, they are in fact, barking up the wrong tree, or in this case person(s). This article is about selling the right product to the right person. It is about knowing who to sell the technical stuff to and who to sell the financial Return On Investment (ROI) information to. It is about finding the person who can say yes and convincing those who can say no that they should say yes.Finding the painA good salesperson will sniff out pain like a good hunting dog might. This is especially true when we are involved i
In order to appreciate the benefits of using these new services, let’s continue with the scenario from earlier. You have selected a name and you are weighing your trademark options. You may have read an article on trademarks that suggested you conduct a “free” online trademark search. Let’s briefly examine online conflict searches.
Two of the most popular free trademark searches are the online records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov), and a simple name search using Internet search engines. Unfortunately, these searches can be misleading to those who are new to the subject of trademarks. As we will examine below, these searches are only the first stage of an effective search process. They may uncover obvious conflicts, but as you will see below, they do not reliably answer the question of trademark availability. The same can be said for State trademark registrations and searches. In fact, only a fraction of the trademarks in use are registered with the State and Federal agencies. The remaining marks are unregistered, often referred to as “common law” trademarks.
Common law trademarks are unregistered marks used in business or commerce that receive limited legal protection based on the geographical area where they are used. The absence of a centralized registry documenting these marks complicates the process of conducting a conflict and availability search. Locating common law marks requires an experienced researcher using the latest and most extensive sources, searching literally millions of relevant business and legal records. This is where a Trademark Service Provider can help.
A Trademark Service Provider has access to proprietary search resources with the most current and extensive information, advanced search technology, and the expertise necessary to conduct a diligent and comprehensive conflict search. Due to the existence of common law trademarks, no search results are 100% conclusive. However, the best strategy is to obtain the most thorough search and then begin using and protecting a mark as soon as possible.
If you plan to use a particular trademark but your business has not opened yet, you can file an “intent to use” application to protect it for six months during the development stage. For an additional fee you can extend this period up to two years if necessary.
Trademark Service Providers are part of a growing trend
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