<p>This article is intended to familiarize technology entrepreneurs with basic trademark concepts, and explain why they should be concerned with trademark law. Most of the concepts are valuable for entrepreneurs and businesses of all types, however.</p> <p><b>What Exactly Is A Trademark?</b><br /> <br /> A trademark is essentially a branding tool. Businesses use trademarks to identify their goods and services and distinguish them from other goods and services in the commercial marketplace. This branding tool may also relate to the identity of an organization as a whole but only insofar as the organizational identity helps distinguish goods or services.</p> <p>You may hear people use "trademark" as a verb, but when people use it this way, they are probably referring to the process of federal registration of a mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). While it is not necessary to register your trademark federally to have legal rights associated it, federal registration provides important, unique benefits to the registrant. In fact, federal registration is essential to enforce your trademark rights as a practical matter for reasons that will be discussed in more detail below.</p> <p>As is explained more fully in <a href="http://biznik.com/learn/articles/legal/the-difference-between-a-trade-name-and-a-trademark-and-why-you-should-care">this article</a>, the concept of "trade name" is often confused with a trademark, but it is important for any business owner to distinguish them (and may be expensive not to). A trade name is usually registered with the Secretary of State in the state of incorporation and identifies an organization for incorporation and other ministerial purposes. However, successful registration of a trade name (which is quite easy) does not afford a business additional trademark protection, or allow it to attach the name to products or services. In fact, many successfully filed trade names conflict with existing trademarks and using them as marks may result in costly trademark infringement problems.</p> <p><b>What Is A Service Mark? Is It Any Different From A Trademark?</b></p> <p>When you register a mark related to a service rather than a product, it is commonly referred to as a service mark. However, for legal purposes, a service mark is treated identically to a trademark. Therefore, this article will generically refer to both service marks and trademarks as trademarks, or "marks."</p> <p><b>What Sorts Of Things May I Trademark For My New Business?</b></p> <p>You may trademark a company name, product name, slogan, logo or other symbol associated with your commercial offerings. Your mark may also consist of a combination of any of these categories such as a logo combined with a company name.</p> <p><b>What Is The Purpose Of Trademark Law And What Protection Does It Offer?</b></p> <p>Trademark law is an offshoot of "unfair competition" law, which protects businesses against unethical practices of other businesses. As we've discussed, trademark law protects against these unethical practices as they relate to branding tools that identify and distinguish the goods and services provided by businesses from one another in the mind of consumers.</p> <p>Trademarks are also a subset of federally regulated intellectual property rights, along with patents and copyrights. Interestingly enough, while federal patent and copyright protection exists to protect you from others copying your ideas, trademark protection primarily exists to protect consumers from other businesses copying your ideas.</p> <p>And while we often use the word "protect" in connection with the law's role in regulating trademarks, this is imprecise. Trademark law doesn rsquo;t actively protect rights, but rather provides a bundle of rights enforceable in court against those who trespass on your ideas. Thus, trademark law functions more like a sword than a shield, because a lawsuit is required to meaningfully enforce your rights. Nevertheless, the threat of a lawsuit in which you will be victorious is very powerful, and most trademark issues can be resolved without the intervention of a court. </p> <p><b>As A Technology Entrepreneur, Why Should I Be Concerned About Trademark Law? </b></p> <p>First of all, as an entrepreneur you are probably eager to find ways to set yourself apart from your competition, whether existing or imagined. A distinctive name, a catchy slogan, a memorable logo can be identifiers used to create a positive association with your business. Ultimately, this association will result in more sales and more prosperity.</p> <p>But what if you invest time and money into creating an identity which conflicts with the legal and intellectual property rights held by others? What if your efforts do not conflict with current marks, but also do not offer you much protection against future copycats, who will inevitably spring up when your business is successful? What rsquo;s more, the changing landscape of business, especially the proliferation of the internet, has dramatically increased the relevance of trademark law in recent years (especially for technology companies or any company that uses the internet as a distribution medium). By allowing businesses to expand cheaply and easily beyond local markets, the internet has opened up a pandora rsquo;s box of potential trademark conflicts. Almost any existing business that predated you is now capable of selling directly to consumers nationally and internationally, and the scope of their concerns about trademark protection must expand accordingly, whether they have strong marks or not. Thus, any new business has to be concerned with the ever-increasing vigilance of existing mark holders. <br /> <br /> <b>What Steps Do I Take To Create A Strong Mark?</b></p> <p>I will outline a general approach to securing trademark protection that will work for many entrepreneurs who plan on selling a product or service beyond local markets.</p> <ul> <li>Create a distinctive mark.</li> <li>Validate this mark via a trademark search.</li> <li>Register the mark federally with the USPTO.</li> </ul> <p>For more details on this approach, you'll just have to watch for another article!</p> 2007-12-16T03:19:42Z 2007-12-16T05:40:45Z -28.5304 753 19 true 9 95 making-your-mark-trademark-basics-for-technology-entrepreneurs 1 2007-12-16T05:38:19Z 2007-12-16T05:38:19Z

<p>What is a trademark?&nbsp; What sorts of things can I trademark?&nbsp; What is the purpose of trademark law?&nbsp; What about trademark law is particularly relevant to technology enterpreneurs?</p>

0 2009-02-24T09:42:48Z