SmallBiz Articles

Protecting Your Brand in the New Year

By Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com

January is always notoriously popular for new businesses to begin sprouting up here and there like a patch of New Year daisies. It’s amazing how many resolution lists must include “finally getting on that business idea I’ve always dreamed about”- which is wonderful! Once you’ve become officially incorporated as a new business, it’s time to take care of protecting your brand by trademarking.

As your business grows it will become increasingly important to protect the name or logo of your company. Trademarking ensures that another business cannot use your name or logo, and will preserve your business’s unique identity throughout its lifetime.

Here are the three steps to trademarking your new business:

Brainstorm! Before you can do anything, you need to have some name or logo ideas thought up. Try to encompass what it is your business does in what it is called or in the logo that represents it, something a stranger can look at and say, “Ah, what a clever/nice/interesting way to say they do… [insert your business here].” Always have a few options, too. When you move on to step two (a name check) you will find that sometimes you won’t be able to use your first choice.

The trademark search process. Before completing step three (filing a trademark application) it is wise to check if what you want to trademark is even available. Why pay the money and put forth the effort of filling out and sending in an application without knowing it will be approved? By partaking in the trademark search process, you will know before applying if your name or logo is already occupied; if not then take it as a green light to…

File a trademark application! Sending in this application is legally registering your name or logo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Find a company who can aid you in filing the application and will personally manage the application throughout the registration process, and you are set to go on the road to protecting your business identity!