Trademarking a Logo: A Comprehensive Guide
A logo serves as a visual representation of your brand, making its protection crucial. Securing a trademark for your logo ensures exclusive rights to its use, preventing others from leveraging your brand identity. Here’s a step-by-step guide to understanding and obtaining a trademark for your logo.
Understanding Trademarks
A trademark is a word or symbol that is used to identify and distinguish the source of goods or services. Federal trademarks require use across multiple states (actual sale or products or rendering of services) and require the mark to be distinct from other trademarks as well as from the products or services being offered.
Benefits of Trademarking Your Logo
Legal Protection: A registered trademark provides legal grounds to prevent unauthorized use of your logo.
Brand Recognition: It solidifies your brand’s identity, ensuring consumers associate your logo with your products or services.
Asset Value: A trademark can enhance the value of your business, making it more appealing to investors or buyers.
Steps to Trademark Your Logo
- Identify the class of goods/services. A trademark must be protected in each class of goods/services it is used in. Identify all classes of goods/services to ensure full protection.
- Perform a clearance search. Search for identical marks AND marks that sound or look similar. If your logo includes words, make sure the words are not covered in another logo or standard character mark.
Prepare Your Application
Gather the necessary information for your trademark application:
Applicant Details: Legal name and address of the individual or entity owning the trademark.
Logo Specimen: A clear, high-resolution image of your logo with a white background.
- Specimen of Logo In Use. Image of the logo on advertising material or near contact information for the goods/services described.
Goods/Services Description: Specify the products or services associated with the logo.
First Use Dates: Document when the logo was first used in commerce.
- Filing and Examination. Once filed, the USPTO will issue an office action in roughly 8 months. They may issue a rejection for likelihood of confusion or based on requirements to amend the application. Responses must be thorough and should be aided by an experienced trademark attorney.
Costs and Timeframe
Trademark registration fees vary based on the application type and number of classes of goods/services. As of February 2025, the basic filing fee starts at $350 per class. The entire process, from application to registration, can take 8 to 12 months, depending on various factors.
Common Law Trademark vs. Federal Registration
Using a mark in commerce is the foundation of trademark protection. You begin building common law protection the day you start using the mark. However, common law trademark rights are generally limited to the regions you use the mark in.
Federal registration offers broader protection across the nation, not being limited to a specific region of use. Furthermore, once a trademark is federally registered for 5 years, it can obtain a presumption of validity. This presumption prevents any third party from challenging validity unless very specific exceptions apply.
Should you register your name and logo?
Yes. There are several reasons to register both your name and logo. First, while your business name offers broader protection, it might be challenged by a third party due to its breadth. A logo is more limited and specific, making it less likely to be challenged. By registering both, you may be able to avoid losing your business name by protecting it within your logo.
Second, federal registration offers nationwide protection as opposed to limited regional protection. If a third party opposes your mark based on common law usage, you can still use the logo in different regions.
Finally, you should seek to register your brand federally for 5 years to obtain the presumption of validity. This essentially ensures that your brand is safe.
About
Attorney Collier started his own law firm straight out of law school and has been practicing law in Ohio for 5+ years. During that time, Joe focused on business law and litigation, gaining some exposure to intellectual property law. While running his firm in 2021, Joe decided to go back to school and get his patent license. Since then, Attorney Collier has been focusing on protecting innovators and entrepreneurs through his expertise in intellectual property and business law.