Irvine Trademark Lawyer

Getting a trademark is a means of gaining legal protection against infringement on intellectual property rights for you and your business. Although it is not required that you hire an attorney to register your trademark, it is the best way to proceed to ensure that you are properly protected.

One of the most common questions individuals and businesses have is whether they actually even need a trademark. If you are asking this question, the answer is almost certain to be “yes.” When you have a registered trademark that identifies your business through symbols or words, your clientele can be sure of the source of the services or goods that they are using. The marks that identify a product as yours help build customer loyalty and confidence, allowing them to identify the high quality of your business whenever they make a return purchase. A registered trademark ensures your right to mark your brand exclusively in commerce throughout the country.

What Is a Trademark?

A trademark may be a word, a symbol, or a phrase that a company uses to brand or distinguish its product. If your company uses a unique symbol or set of words to sell a product or service, it must meet certain legal requirements for a trademark to be registered. This is defined by the United States federal law 15 USC 1127. The primary characteristic that is used to qualify a slogan or phrase for a trademark is that it distinguishes a product by means of unique identifiers. These identifiers set a company or product apart in a way that creates a brand customers will recognize.

Why Is Trademark Law Important?

Trademark law is a practice area that focuses on logos and slogans that companies use in marketing their goods and services. When your business uses these advertising methods, you must protect the exclusive use of your unique symbols and slogans. Trademark law is a crucial field of expertise because it gives your company legal recourse if another business fails to respect your exclusive rights. This may include property rights on trademarked phrases, mottoes, and symbols that identify your brand to your customer base.

Where Did Trademark Laws Originate?

There are trademark laws that come from both federal and state legislation. These laws first came about through US common laws; then, in 1946, the federal government passed the Lanham Act, the first nationwide trademark law. Today, the bulk of trademark law that faces enforcement goes back to the Lanham Act. In 1996, Congress amended the law, relevant to protecting businesses today. Although most trademark law enforcement today is related to the Lanham Act, state common law trademark actions can still be used in some circumstances.

What Kind of Attorneys Do Trademarks?

Your Irvine intellectual property lawyers are skilled professionals who work to ensure that their clients have ownership rights to their created or invented materials. Intellectual property law covers several different areas, including the following.

• Unfair competition. Laws regarding competition are meant to ensure that companies manufacture and trade goods fairly. Competition attorneys can defend companies or their customers.
• Trade secret law. These laws were created to protect certain methods of production or formulas that companies own. In this practice area, it is the attorney’s job to register a trademark for these processes.
• Licensing. The purpose of licensing is to allow an individual to pay a set fee to use a created good if they are not the owner. A common example of this is the use of music for motion picture soundtracks. A movie producer must have a license granting them permission to use a musician’s song legally. Licensing attorneys are able to negotiate and draft such documents.
• Trademark law. This practice area involves protection for business names, as well as logos and slogans. Trademark attorney services include drafting and filing the paperwork for this process. They also work in negotiations and litigation in legal cases over trademark rights.
• Copyright law. Copyright is similar to trademark but pertains to the rights of creative authors regarding control of their property. In addition to writers, musicians, photographers, and artists protect their work with copyrights.
• Patent law. The difference between trademarks, copyrights, and patents is that patents apply to certain industrial processes, computer programs, technologies, and new inventions. Patent attorneys can negotiate legal processes involving patents, in addition to writing the patents.

Trust your Irving trademark attorneys at Kinder Law Group to handle all your personal and corporate needs for patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

What Does an Intellectual Property Attorney Do?

As the name implies, this branch of legal practice involves protecting intellectual properties. Some of the responsibilities that IP attorneys handle include the following.

• Transferring ownership rights for intellectual property
• Filing lawsuits and negotiating legal settlements
• Collaborating with patent and trademark offices
• Conducting interviews and research related to legal proceedings and court cases
• Drafting licensing agreements and new contracts
• Reviewing and creating essential legal papers, such as trademark documents and patents
• Consulting with and advising legal clients regarding intellectual property documents such as licenses and patents
• Representing clients in court
• Giving clients advice on legal actions and rights involving intellectual property

What Can an Irvine Trademark Attorney Help You With?

Regardless of whether you are a first-time applicant or someone who has experience with trademark registration, the process can be long and difficult to navigate. In addition to meeting stringent deadlines, any mistakes on your paperwork will result in the loss of your registration fees. This is why it is essential to have an experienced trademark attorney on your side. As your lawyer walks you through the trademark process, they can help you with the following details.

• Defending businesses and individuals who may be accused of infringing on a trademark that belongs to another individual or entity
• Pursuing legal recourse if you believe that someone else is infringing on your trademark
• Interpreting foreign trademark laws and filing for foreign trademarks
• Handling correspondence with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and responding to any objections from the examining attorney
• Conducting any necessary research and trademark searches to ensure that your trademark is unique and valid for registration with the USPTO

Do I Need a Lawyer to Trademark a Name?

Although getting a trademark for your business name doesn’t require you to hire an attorney, there are many advantages to trusting the expertise of a skilled lawyer. You will appreciate the ability of your attorney to help monitor and pursue any infringement claims you may make regarding your intellectual property once your trademark is registered.

As you go through the process of trademarking your name, your attorney will handle various tasks, such as searching for similar names that could hinder you from using yours in commerce and evaluating the strength of the name you have chosen. If your name is not a strong choice, they will be able to help you develop a better choice and understand your rights.

Once the name is settled upon, your attorney can help you with the trademark application process and any amendments that are necessary along the way. Conducting follow-up tasks, such as responding to inquiries from the USPTO, checking the application status, and adhering to various deadlines, is a service you will be glad to have help with along the way.

Remember that your trademarked name is the way your clientele will identify your business, so you want to be sure your rights are protected. The investment in the short term is well worth the cost in the long run.

Why Should You Hire a Trademark Lawyer?

You should trust your business trademark to a legal professional from the start because you don’t want to get off on the wrong foot by choosing a name that you love, only to find that it is not safe to use. You want to be sure your name is not trademarked by any other entity before you order any packaging, signage, or advertising.

Many individuals and businesses also find that the chances of securing a trademark for their business name are much greater when handled by an attorney than when they try to go it alone. Just because technology allows you to handle certain legal matters on your own, it is not always wise to do so.

How Much Does a Trademark Case Cost?

As with any legal matter, many factors may affect the overall cost of your trademark, including the law firm’s size and reputation and even the area where you live. On average, having your application process handled by a trademark attorney may range from $500 to $2,000. If there are any disputes or delays in your case, other fees may add as much as $500 more. You will also want to keep in mind that there are government filing fees you will need to cover, which may amount to several hundred dollars. Factors that may affect legal fees include the following.

• Whether you wish to have your attorney maintain and renew your trademark
• Whether you want trademark monitoring after registration to be sure no one else is using it
• Whether your application is denied or granted by the patent and trademark office
• How quickly you want the trademark registration to take place
• Your initial trademark search results
• How many marks you are registering

Be sure to choose an attorney with a record you can trust, and always get your fee arrangement in writing, so there will be no surprises with your overall cost.

Make Kinder Law Group Your Trusted Team

Getting your intellectual property trademarked is not something you want to trust to just anyone, and the team at Kinder Law Group knows that. Contact us today to see how we can help you.