 Re: How many of you have trademarked your company name?
You can register a mark at anytime. In a lot of cases, you really don’t need to register at all.
Trademarks do not need to be federally registered in order to be protected. Without federal registration a trademark may be protected under the common law or state law when registration occurs in a particular state.
With common law, the ownership and protection of a trademark is automatic once the mark is used in commerce. State law will protect a mark once it is used in commerce and registered in a particular state. Trademark rights usually belong to the first user in a geographical area for a particular product or service. Common law or state law protection is probably satisfactory, and may be the only type of protection that is available for a mark that is only used in a single geographic market such as a city or state. Ownership and protection of a trademark will continue for as long as the owner uses the mark in commerce.
With that said, I have mine registered. Just gives a little more proof of first use in commerce and allows you to also register internationally. Although many countries do not recongnize US registrations… a lot do.
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