Trademark is a distinguishable intellectual property that gives an individual or an organization sole proprietorship over a product or service. A trademark is usually a name, sign, symbol, or phrase that makes customers recognize a brand, service, or product almost immediately.

There are three main categories of trademarks: trademark for products, trademark for services, and trade dress. A trademark for products is further divided into five sub-categories:

• Generic mark
• Suggestive mark
• Arbitrary mark
• Descriptive mark
• Fanciful mark

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal agency responsible for granting new patents and registering trademarks for products and services. You can register for a trademark either directly or through an attorney, and each has its own advantages. The best trademark services you can choose from are listed below:

• Rocket Lawyer
  The San Francisco-based firm offers trademarking services for both businesses and individuals. After filing for a trademark with Rocket Lawyer, a lawyer helps review it and provides end-to-end assistance. Their prices are also quite affordable, and they offer a free trial of 7 days.
• JPG Legal
  Founded by Jeremy Peter Green, a well-known trademark lawyer, JPG Legal specializes in trademarking company names and other related services. The firm is both experienced and affordable when it comes to trademark name filing and registration, and it serves the length of the country and even the overseas markets.
• LegalZoom
  This online legal company allows tremendous ease in trademark name filing and registration services. The entire process is online, and you can get specialists to review your legal documents through this platform. LegalZoom has been in the business for over two decades now and has prices starting from just $199, in addition to the federal filing fees.
• MyBrandMark.com
  Operated by trademark attorneys and associated with Pesochinsky LLC., My Brand Mark is one of the few players with attorneys licensed to practice before the USPTO. This online legal firm charges $425 for both trademark registration and renewal services.
• Trademark Engine
  With prices starting at just $99, apart from the USPTO filing fees, Trademark Engine is another experienced operator in the trademark registration arena. Their monitoring service, which is available for a fee, ensures that your trademark isn’t illegally used by notifying you of any infringement and sending monthly reports. The firm also provides copyright services.

Trademarks are a combination of unique words, images, or phrases that identify your business and grant intellectual property rights to the owner. While filing and paying for a trademark is not that expensive, you must understand that the attorney fees you incur for legal representation can stretch your finances to the limit. However, that does not mean people who cannot afford to pay may never get their trademark registered. There are quite a few workarounds to avail of your trademark benefit. Check these out!

Inventor and entrepreneur resources

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) provides affordable assistance for filing trademarks and patents. Several states offer free legal representation to simplify the process. A detailed list of countries that provide free services with the guarantee of legal protection for your brand or invention is made available on their official website. Filing directly with the USPTO is the cheapest way to get a trademark.

Common-law marks

There is a legal advantage to federally registering a trademark, especially in possible cases of property infringement. But there is a cheap way to get a brand with common-law marks, including the most popular (™) symbol. It identifies your claim on the design or logo you are currently using, without the need for federal registration. These are good marks offering fundamental protectable rights in the country, used by businesses and brands that may file for a trademark in the future to avail of legal rights altogether. Though essential, it is still one of the cheapest ways to get a brand.

Online legal assistance

The cost of legal assistance to apply, track, and monitor your trademark application is substantial only if you go through a law firm. However, many online legal resources hire independent attorneys with affordable quotes for specific and limited services. Places like legalzoom.com, ipwatchdog.com, onlinetrademarkattorneys.com, and legal-sherpa.com, to name a few, offer exclusive application and filing services for a small fee. Note that you incur these costs over and above the standard fees payable at the USPTO filing office.

Before you can explore the cheapest way to get a trademark, understand that the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office has the final say about accepting or rejecting your application. The process can take months from the initial application to notification of final status.

Trademarking your company is essential to help customers and clients identify your services and goods. The requirement for trademark name filing is that your trademark is only for commerce purposes. Additionally, the label should not be the same or similar to another brand or company’s trademark. Once these requirements are met, you can approach either an attorney or trademark services for assistance. Here are a few more tips to remember while trademarking your company.

Ensure your trademark is unique

Conduct a thorough and complete trademark due diligence to ensure that your trademark is similar to that of another organization or brand, also known as trademark clearance research. This essential to stay out of legal troubles and avoid the expenses of rebranding in the future. Again, this type of research can help you to determine whether you can get exclusive rights on your brand.

Pick a trademark that can be protected

When it comes to trademarking your company or brand, it is advisable to pick something as fanciful as you can. Not all names and words can be protected as a trademark. For instance, “money holder” is a generic name for wallets or descriptive terms such as “the bag shop.” Such names are difficult to be protected using a trademark. Whereas if you pick a made-up word for your brand, such as Texaco®, it can be easily protected. Moreover, fanciful names are hard to replicate by others seeking to trademark their brand or company.

Register as early as possible

Trademarking your company name with the USPTO or The United States Patent and Trademark Office will give your exclusive rights. You own the trademark registration from the date you have filed your application. The earlier you file your trademark register, the easier it will be to prevent competitors from using a similar trademark. You will hold the rights to your brand from an earlier date. Also, the initial registration will be like a notice to your potential competitors.

Monitor your trademark

Registering your trademark is just the beginning. To completely safeguard your brand or company’s identity, you need to be on a constant lookout for copy-cats. To ensure that your brand identity is not diluted, you need to regularly monitor your trademark so that another company or brand does not use it; otherwise, you may lose the exclusive rights to your label. If you are planning to expand overseas, make sure to protect your trademark under foreign laws.

The business name and logo hold a great deal of importance, as they are an essential part of the identity of your business. A meaningful name or logo adds a good touch to the identity of your business. But how do you know if someone is not going to tweak and make it their own? That it won’t remain uniquely yours? This is where understanding trademark name filing and trademark services become important.

Trademarking your company name provides value to the business. It also covers all your products and services under the trademark. This provides your business with its own brand status.

Check availability

Before you set out for the trademark name filing, do your research. Your research should include data collection to ensure that the availed trademark services do not infringe on someone else’s existing trademarks. Do not go in unprepared to file your documents only to have your application rejected. Plus, keep in mind that if you are planning a bigger, brighter future for your business, you cannot have trademarks similar to others,which can confuse users.

Sooner the better

Registration of a trademark after trademarking your company name is not a compulsion. However, it does allow one the right to sue the infringer under the civil and common law. The registration gives you rights to the name and logo that are solely yours, which makes it an offense if someone else is trying to use it. Hence, it is advisable to have the trademark registered without delay.

Use correct symbols

Before your application was registered, you were probably using the (™) symbol to indicate that you have applied to obtain a unique identity for your business. However, after having successfully trademarked your company name by using the trademark services your (™) symbol is no longer required. After receiving the get-go from the federal registration you will be required to use a different symbol. To indicate that the trademark name filing process has been completed, the symbol “R” is used.

Keep track of your marks

The growth and development of your business are associated with the names and logos that you trademark. It is important to keep track of your usage and your renewal dates, so you don’t lose your rights later on. Additionally, keeping track of the usage helps identify infringers, if any. It will also give you an idea if there are other companies or brands with trademarked symbols similar to yours.

If you’ve recently established a business, the first thing you must do is get a trademark for your company name. This protects your brand and ensures that no other business can make profits off your sales by starting a similar business with a similar name. There are several ways to acquire a trademark, and here, we’ll explore the three cheapest ways to get a trademark for your business.

Register a business name in your state

State trademark registration is probably the cheapest way to get a trademark for your company, but you must know that it offers protection only within your state. If you have formed a formal business entity, your business name is already registered in your state. This means other businesses are aware of your brand name, and no other company can be formed in your state with the same name. The fee for business entity formation varies in each state.

In some states, your business name can be registered as a trade name, also known as a “doing business as” (DBA) name, if you operate as a sole proprietorship or partnership. Typically, the fee for registering your company name statewide ranges between $50 and $150, depending on the state.

Trademark a business name with the USPTO

Applying at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is another cheap way to get a trademark for your business. The significant benefit of getting a trademark through the USPTO is that it offers nationwide protection. You can apply for trademark registration online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). Alternatively, you can file a paper application, but it’s recommended that you do it electronically as there can be a substantial difference in fees. The fees for electronic filing with the USPTO start from $225 per class of goods and services, but they are much higher if you’re filing a paper application.

Use online legal services

Using online legal services is an excellent alternative if you’re not willing to pay considerable fees to a lawyer. Online legal services like LegalZoom.com, Legal-Sherpa.com, Trademarks411.com, and Trademarkia.com can help you file a trademark application. Online services typically advertise fees as low as $150-$200, depending on the kind of services you want. However, this fee is in addition to the filing fee you will be paying the government or the USPTO.

A trademark can be a name, tagline, or logo to give a unique identification to your product or business. Trademarks are a valuable part of the intellectual property owned by a business, which helps in distinguishing goods and services in the same business sector.

The cheapest way to get a trademark is to design and register one for yourself. It is recommended to get assistance when working with trademarks because a small error in registration and research can result in conflict from another party. There are online trademark search and registration services, which are cheaper alternatives to hiring a local trademark attorney, and can help you with efficient registration. Mentioned below are three online trademark services that are the cheapest ways to get a trademark.

LegalZoom
Established in 2001, the online trademark service is a reasonable alternative to hiring an attorney for your trademark. It allows you to choose from Basic and Complete coverage plans that are priced at $199 and $219 respectively. The complete coverage also provides color adjustment, digitization, and compilation of your trademark specimens, a feature that not every trademark service provides. LegalZoom is also highly rated due to its ease of use, and easy-to-understand questionnaires to gather necessary information. Moreover, it allows you to check the status online anytime, and provides assistance through call or email.

TrademarkPlus
It is one of the most popular and cheapest ways to get a trademark for your business. Average Trademark search and registration packages range from $199 to $399 while TrademarkPlus charges between $49 and $149. The trademark service claims to process any trademark search within one business day of receiving application materials. TrademarkPlus helps in identifying similar trademarks that may cause conflict, thereby avoiding the likelihood of application rejection. Its trademark watching service helps protect your business by monitoring your trademark at the national, federal state, or international level. You’ll also get an alert if anyone attempts to use a similar mark.

Trademark Engine
Another cheap way to get a trademark is to opt for Trademark Engine. It can be a good choice to trademark your intellectual property of your business. Its basic registration package starts from $99. The Standard Package includes Transfer/Assignment template and six months of trademark monitoring for $149. The Deluxe Package gives you a full year of trademark monitoring and 24-hour processing time for $199. Trademark Engine can also let you perform free trademark search of pending and even live trademarks. It also has its own learning center where it provides answers to various trademark and copyright related questions.

Got a brilliant idea in the middle of the night? Already have ideas to make it a reality? Now that you have an idea and have worked out all the math and are ready to kick start the process. The first thing you need to do is to secure your idea so that someone else does not plagiarize it. In order to do so, you need to patent your idea, which is a task in itself. Here are some tips that will be of great help with patenting an idea to get you started.

Secure a space online

In today’s technologically driven lifestyle, patenting an idea alone is not enough. Securing yourself a domain name and a web address before getting your trademark registered is a smart move. This way, you won’t need help patenting an idea all over again when you realize that you do not have a web address available for the trademark you already registered.

Test the tide of your ideas

A prototype helps define the functionality of your idea and brings to light the flaws, if any. In some instances, prototypes prove to be a saving grace as some ideas might theoretically seem brilliant but do not work out on a practical level. Not to mention, they are also a great ally in convincing your investors of your brilliance and obtaining brownie points when applying for patents. A prototype, therefore, provides much-needed help while patenting an idea that you envisioned.

Get a professional ally

Patenting an idea can be a daunting process. However, don’t give up on the first try. After you have done some basic research on your own and know enough of the paperwork involved in getting a patent for your idea, get help. Hiring a patent attorney is highly recommended, as they can help patent an idea on a professional level without all the technical and legal jargon fraying them.

Be descriptive

While you are in the front of the patent examiner trying to convince them why you deserve that patent, your description of your genius idea will serve you best. The idea, its description, the logic and semantics will help with swaying the officer your way when patenting an idea. This means that along with a prototype, you should also be well-versed in putting your idea into words.