3 Reasons You Should NOT Register Your Trademark! (2023)

Introduction

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For many businesses, trademark registration is the best way to secure and protect your brand's important trademark and intellectual property. But getting a trademark registered is not always a good idea, and can be a flat-out waste of time and money for some. Check out this new episode of All Up In Yo Business to hear the 3 reasons you may not want to get a trademark for your business name or logo.

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Content

- Think that getting a trademark registered is the first step in having a successful business? Well, think again.

Stick around 'cause I'm gonna tell you three reasons that you should not bother with trademark registration., (upbeat, music), Hi, everyone, I'm, Attorney, Aiden, Durham with 180, Law Co.

in Colorado and you're, watching All Up, In, Yo, Business.

Before.

We get into my three reasons that you shouldn't worry about a trademark, don't, forget to like, subscribe and share and check the description for links to additional information and resources, including my free downloadable introductions to trademarks guide where you'll learn even more about the do's and don'ts of trademarks.

All right.

So reason number one that maybe you shouldn't worry about a trademark registration for your business is if you aren't committed, 100% committed to that, trademark.

Whether, it's, your business name, or your logo, or a slogan, tagline, whatever it is, if you're not 100% committed to that exact trademark, if you're not totally married to it and vision, a long-term relationship with this trademark.

Then you shouldn't bother, registering it with the USPTO.

The, trademark application and registration process for most applicants takes at least a year or so.

And then once the trademark's registered, you can't really go back and change it.

So.

If you have a logo, for example, but you're, not that crazy about it, or you think you might modify or change it in some way in the next, I don't, know, one to maybe three, four, five years, then trademark registration may not be that important for you, because if you register it and then a couple months later, decide to stop using that logo and use a different one, that registration isn't really gonna do you any good.

Same with your business, name.

Sometimes, especially when we're first starting a business, we might think this business name really reflects our business and our brand and what we're all about.

But then a few months or maybe a couple of years down the line.

We shift a little bit and we decide this name doesn't really fit what we're all about anymore.

And so again, if you've already registered the trademark for that business name, and you change your mind later, on, that existing registration.

It does you no good.

So.

If you're not 100% sure that you love your trademark, whether it's the name or logo or whatever it is.

And if you don't envision yourself using it in your business for the long-term, then trademark registration may not be right for you yet.

Reason number two that maybe you shouldn't worry about getting a trademark registration for your business is if your trademark is on the weak end, not the weekend, the weak end.

Not.

All trademarks are created equal.

There is a scale of strength.

Very, weak trademarks and very strong, trademarks.

On.

The super weak side are primarily generic or descriptive.

Trademarks.

Generic, trademarks are ones that just use a generic term or a generic word for the goods or services that you're selling.

If I was selling fruit baskets, for example.

And my business name was Apple.

Apple would be a pretty generic and weak trademark for that business, because it describes the products that I'm selling, fruit and it's.

The generic term for those products.

On.

The stronger end are suggestive or arbitrary trademarks, where the trademark is either a completely made up word, or it could be just a commonplace term, but it's used for something that has nothing to do with what we're actually selling.

So again.

If my business name is Apple, but I'm selling technology products, that trademark is pretty strong because apple, the common word apple, doesn't, actually have anything to do with technology, computers, electronics.

So that would be a good strong.

Trademark.

I'll give you an example from my own business.

When I.

First started, my law practice, I called it The Law, Office of Aiden, Kramer., I, didn't, bother, registering that trademark for a couple of reasons.

Number.

One was that it was descriptive.

It described what I did.

It was a law office.

And it used my name or at least my former name in it.

And.

So a descriptive trademark, where it's merely describing the goods or services that you're offering, again, falls on the weak side of that trademark balancing scale.

But.

The other reason I didn't do it was because I wasn't, ironically, enough, I, wasn't, married to that name and literally, I wasn't married to that name.

'cause I ended up getting divorced and my name changed.

So I was no longer Aiden Kramer., But I got bored of that name and I knew this probably wasn't gonna stick with my business for the long-term, and which it didn't.

I ended up rebranding.

And now my law practice is called 180 Law Co., which I do have a trademark registration for because it's, not completely descriptive.

The.

Law Co.

part is descriptive, but the 180 isn't.

So, it's, not super strong.

But it is on the stronger end of that spectrum of strength for trademarks.

So.

If your trademark is on the weaker end, if it consists primarily of generic or descriptive, terms, then trademark registration may not really benefit.

You yet.

Now, a little caveat to that.

There is this thing called acquired distinctiveness.

In, a lot of situations.

If you have a pretty weak, a descriptive trademark, if you've been using it in commerce for a while, typically it's about five years, or if you can demonstrate to the USPTO that you built up a lot of distinctiveness in that trademark, despite it being descriptive or kind of weak, then that acquired distinctiveness kind of gets rid of the weak descriptive.

Nature.

We, see this with things like American, Airlines., That in itself is a very weak trademark, because it describes exactly what the company does, an airline company based in America.

So.

When they first started out that wasn't a very good trademark.

But now we all know American Airlines is a distinctive brand now.

And so just with that use becoming a recognizable brand, it's become a much stronger, trademark.

But when you're first starting out, particularly in the first five years or so of your business.

If your trademark is on the weaker, more descriptive end, then you may not wanna deal with trademark registration yet 'cause.

It might not do a whole lot for you.

And.

Number three.

The third reason you shouldn't bother with a registering, a trademark is if you're not willing and able to enforce the rights that trademark registration is gonna give you.

Listen, trademark registration is a really important way to protect your brand and your trademark and your brand's goodwill and recognition in the marketplace, but registering, a trademark on its own, isn't going to do that much for you.

It gives you these rights.

That's, the benefit of trademark registration.

For.

The most part is it gives you all these added, stronger rights in that trademark, but no one's going to enforce those rights on your behalf.

Sure, with the registered trademark, the USPTO, if somebody else files a trademark application for something that's really similar, they might deny that registration if it's confusingly similar to yours.

But.

They don't always do that and their opinion of what's confusingly, similar isn't, always exactly the legal opinion of what's, confusingly, similar.

So.

Sometimes they let some slide through that.

Another company might think, no, that is infringing on our brand, on our trademark.

And.

So you have to be ready and able to enforce those rights, which means usually at a bare minimum, sending a cease and desist letter or having an attorney help you with sending in a decease and desist letter.

And at least analyzing the situation to make sure it's appropriate to send a cease and desist letter.

You might need to file a petition to cancel, a registered trademark or oppose a pending trademark application, which those situations almost always require that you have an attorney help you with it.

Worst case, scenario.

You might have to actually sue somebody for trademark infringement, or trademark dilution, or some other legal action.

If they are impeding on your trademark, rights.

You also have to take steps to actively monitor the marketplace and make sure there aren't any other trademarks out there that might be infringing on your rights.

And.

So if you don't want to, if you don't want to go through the hassle of monitoring trademark, applications, monitoring the marketplace, keeping an eye on what else is out there.

And or if you don't want to or can't do what's necessary to enforce those rights, then the trademark registration really isn't.

Gonna do you a whole lot of good.

It's important to go into the registration process, knowing that this isn't the end of the line.

This isn't, gonna do everything for you.

It will likely be necessary that you'll have to hire an attorney to monitor your brand, monitor, your trademark and hire legal counsel to help you enforce those rights and take action against others.

When the time comes.

So before going into the trademark registration, process, make sure you're in a situation where it's really gonna benefit you and benefit your business.

Because if this trademark may not be with your business for very long, if it's kind of weak and kind of descriptive or generic, or if you're not gonna bother with enforcing and monitoring other trademarks and enforcing your rights, then you're really just wasting time and money to get this trademark registered when you could be spending that on something more important like marketing to increase brand recognition.

So your trademark isn't.

So weak.

That's all for this episode folks.

Drop, a comment below.

Let, me know what you think and again, don't, forget to check the description for links to additional information and resources, including my free intro to trademarks guide that you can download.

And you can also learn about my all-inclusive, trademark registration package or my online DIY course, called Brandish, which teaches you step-by-step how to apply for and get a trademark registered without a lawyer.

Thank.

You all so much for watching.

I'm, Aiden, Durham and I'll.

See you next time., (upbeat, music).