New Trademark Registration

If you’re thinking about undertaking a new venture, it’s a great idea to make sure you have rights to your desired name before you invest in advertising and inventory. Doing such can help avoid the situation of having to change your name after you have spent months or years acquiring customers to avoid a trademark infringement law suit. Not only is this situation a huge waste of resources, it would only have a negative impact on your bottom line.

It’s entirely possible to determine if your desired trademark is available and then begin the registration process far before you actually start selling your goods and services. With an intent-to-use application your rights in the applied for trademark start from the day you send in your application. While you don’t have any trademark rights to enforce until you actually start using your trademark in the marketplace, what an intent to use application does give you is priority rights in the name until you do. You can keep an intent-to-use application open for a little over three years before you have to demonstrate to the trademark office that you are actually using the trademark to advertise your goods or services. While the government filing fees associated with an intent-to-use application are a little more, it’s rather inexpensive insurance when you consider the business costs associated with having to change your name several years down the road.