Rock Candy

I've done some searching, but I'm still a little confused. Here is my situation: I already have an established screen printing business. I have only done contract work in the past. Now I want to sell my own shirts. I have a name for my brand and a label design. My question is do I need to register my clothing brand name or can I just sell these shirts from my established company without registering anything? If I need to register my brand, where can I do this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

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Rodney

Quote: Originally Posted by Peanut Boutique I've done some searching, but I'm still a little confused. Here is my situation: I already have an established screen printing business. I have only done contract work in the past. Now I want to sell my own shirts. I have a name for my brand and a label design. My question is do I need to register my clothing brand name or can I just sell these shirts from my established company without registering anything? If I need to register my brand, where can I do this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

You don't have to register your brand, but you may want to see if the brand name is already in use for t-shirts by searching through the trademark database (and google)

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JohnnyMo

I'd second Rodney about checking to make sure no one else is using it as a brand/mark... and then you are free to begin to sell away....

From my understanding of the law, as soon as you engage in Interstate Commerce and ship or sell one of your tees... you have established your "mark" so to speak.... that said, sometimes this sale and shipment isn't the easiest thing to prove, unless you are running a full fledged business with regular purchases and documented usage, with dates, receipt, etc....

If you start using the mark regularly you benefit by visiting the USPTO.gov website and following through with registering your mark... you can do it online now... and from what I recall... it is only about $300-400 to register the mark in one category (apparel, etc...) ... the registration gives you an easy way to protect the mark if someone infringes on your design... without you having to establish the mark as yours since the registration does that without producing receipts, documents, etc....

Good luck...

 

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Rock Candy

Thanks for the info guys. I will check out the places you mentioned. Hopefully I can get my brand underway soon.

 

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theprintshop

Quote: Originally Posted by Rock Candy I've done some searching, but I'm still a little confused. Here is my situation: I already have an established screen printing business. I have only done contract work in the past. Now I want to sell my own shirts. I have a name for my brand and a label design. My question is do I need to register my clothing brand name or can I just sell these shirts from my established company without registering anything? If I need to register my brand, where can I do this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

If you are UK then you do not need to register your design to prevent others from copying it. We have in Europe which is called UNREGISTERED design right which is ideal for fashion industry where we can avoid 3-4 month procedure of registering a design (by that time the fashion design is over) -- so we rely on unregistered design right. But for the long term you might need to register the design.

Also remember UNREGISTERED design right protection last only for 3 years from the time it was disclosed to the public. In registering design you can get protection for up to 15 years.

If you have a brand then you might need to Trade mark it. But the trend now is to do both for double layer of protection i.e. design right as well as trade mark protection.

Just in case some one infringes your design then in the court you will have a stronger case.

 

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