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Do I need a trademark at the very beginning?

2K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  GN 
Good question. Common, but still good. I believe the majority of the answers will be you do not need to get a TM right away and while I agree with that- I do believe there are some exceptions. For this reason I have chosen to TM most of my lines from the beginning (expecting to launch soon!)

The story that convinced me to do so was that of "WWJD".. the original aurthor didn't TM it in the early 90's and then a big corp starting making millions off it. I believe she finally won her TM case sometime in the 2000's but she didn't get very much ($10k is what I was told).

For me the distinction is how "rare" the potential item is. The more "rare" it is, the less, I believe, it needs to be TM'd right away. The more "common" the potential phrase, slogan etc the more I'd encourage someone to TM. I realize that might be backwards thinking but I believe it will be easier to prove you came up with "Pink elephants jump high" than it would be to prove you came up with "Life is Good".
 
also, and correct me if i'm wrong on this, tim, but the industry you want to use the name for matters as long as there is no confusion. like otis is the name of an elevator company, but if you wanted to call your cattle feed company otis, there's no issue there.
I'm not Tim, but yes that is correct.
 
Also after u file you will get bombarded with additional services and fees that appear to be legitimate but they are nothing more than companies trying to take advantage of your ignorance about how the process evolves. They have "official government" sounding names and websites. It's so bad the trademark office warns you it will happen after u place ur order.
 
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