Protect Your Brand | Trademarks - Solivagant Legal

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Whether you’ve been in business for years or are just starting, trademarking is absolutely critical.

A trademark is the only way to prevent someone else from using your name or anything similar to your name. Especially in a crowded online space, your brand name is one of your biggest assets. It’s how clients remember you and prospects recognize you; your brand name anchors your reputation and your revenue. But without a trademark, you’re building on a shaky foundation. Another business could file before you and now you’re looking at a rebrand, lost momentum, and having to explain to an audience with short attention spans why your business name changed.
Trademarks aren’t just protection for you from another business trying to steal your name. Yes, you get protection through ownership, which is why most brands trademark in the first place. But ownership through trademarks also turns your brand into something you can license or leverage for additional income.
Building your business to sell? Finding an investor who’d consider buying a business that isn’t trademarked is highly unlikely, and even if you do, the lack of a registered trademark is a significant risk that can decrease your company’s valuation.
Think you’ll just “get to it later?” You’re risking a cease and desist followed by an expensive rebrand, or even defending a trademark infringement lawsuit…

Reality check 😬

  • Forming an LLC, social handles, or buying a URL in the name of your brand doesn’t prevent others from using it. It only means someone can’t also register that business name in your state. That’s it. The ONLY way to have exclusive ownership over your brand (or course or program name) is to trademark it.
  • Many business owners think they can search the Trademark Office’s database and/or do a quick Google or ChatGPT search, see that no one else has trademarked their exact name, and think they should be able to trademark without a problem. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this isn’t the case-not by a long shot.
  • In the United States, if your proposed name is similar to a registered mark, your registration can be denied. The decision is nuanced, and far from black and white. Likewise, businesses can have trademark rights even if they haven’t registered their trademark with the Trademark Office.

This is too important to attempt yourself.

  • We search across hundreds of news and industry databases, social media, and federal and state registers to get the fullest picture possible. Search results reports can be hundreds of pages long. We thoroughly review your results and assess the probability of successful registration.
  • Not only do we identify any potential roadblocks to trademarking your brand pre-application, we have the experience and expertise to best prep your application for success. The trademark application itself is complicated, with 45 options of classes of goods or services to choose from. Choose the wrong class and your application will be denied or you won’t have protection in your industry.
  • The trademark process is long (at least 12-14 months, sometimes longer). The last thing you want is to get 6 months in (after already investing money in filing fees to submit your application) only to have your application denied, and you now have to start all over again.

Let's work together to protect your brand.

When you work with us, you’ll have an experienced lawyer to guide you every step of the way. Here’s how it works and what you’ll get:
  • Call with Mairin to review your brand, your immediate and long term goals (so we make sure we’re registering your mark in all of the right categories), discuss what you need to provide me and when, and give you an overview of the timeline and what to expect.
  • Comprehensive search of registered marks and common law marks to maximize your likelihood of successful registration.
  • I prep and file your application. Did you know there are over 44 classes of goods and services you need to choose from when you’re filing a trademark application? Let us worry about that, not you. 😉
  • Your filing fees and 1 class of goods or services are included. Depending on your type of business, you may need to file in additional classes. The federal government charges $350 per class, which we bill you for separately. We'll go over all of this in your call so you know exactly what to expect.
  • I handle all communication with the Trademark Office. If an examining attorney has questions or needs more information, I handle it directly. Once you provide us with the evidence we need to attach to your application, we handle everything. Your work is done!
  • We provide you with updates. The trademarking process is long. Sometimes we’ll go many months without hearing anything from the Trademark Office (which is actually a good thing). Regardless, we will update you regularly so even if there’s no news, you can rest assured knowing that we’re on top of things, and your application is moving forward.
  • Prep the champagne (and the Ⓡ to add to your brand name 😉) because you’re now official.

Let's do this!

Pay in full or in installments with Klarna, whatever works for you. You’ll fill in your name and email address on the next screen, and a questionnaire that will provide me with more information about your business and your brand. You’ll book a call with me and in that call, we’ll go over what info and supporting evidence I need from you, and walk you through the process, so you know exactly what to expect.

Just want to clear a name you're considering so you're sure you're not infringing on anyone else's trademark rights? Want an expert assessment on whether you'll be able to trademark the name you fell in love with, but not ready for the full trademark process yet? Choose the Trademark Clearance Search below for a full risk assessment. If you decide to trademark within 6 months of completion of your Clearance Search, you can deduct the cost of the search from the Trademark Services cost.

Pay in Full

$2850

  • Comprehensive pre-application search
  • Pre-filing call with Mairin
  • Trademark application + 1 class of goods or services
  • All communication and follow-up with the Trademark Office
  • Trademark registration certificate!
Protect Your Brand Now!

Payment Plan

Pay in Installments with Klarna

  • Pay over 6, 8, 12 or 24 months with Klarna!* (6 months=$495/month; 12 months=$256/month; 18 months=$177/month; 24 months=$137/month)
  • Comprehensive pre-application search
  • Pre-filing call with Mairin
  • Trademark application + 1 class of goods or services
  • All communication and follow-up with the Trademark Office
  • Trademark registration certificate!
I'll Take the Payment Plan!

Trademark Clearance Search

$750

  • Comprehensive search of registered and common law trademarks
  • Detailed risk assessment, evaluating whether your chosen name is clear to use, as well as the likelihood of successful trademark registration of the name
  • Cost of trademark search deducted from DFY Trademark Services if you decide to trademark the name within 6 months
Just search the name, please!

Questions? Check out these FAQs:

As soon as you can, really. Even if you haven’t built your business or your offer, made a sale or gotten any clients, we can file what’s called an “Intent to Use” to begin the process of evaluating and protecting your chosen name. This puts the name “on hold” and gives you priority over anyone else trying to register the same name or anything confusingly similar. It also starts the trademark process and keeps momentum flowing. The trademarking process generally takes over a year. If we file an intent to use as soon as you decide on a name, we update your application when you start to use the name publicly in commerce (sell something using the name), and your application continues to move forward.

Words, phrases, logos and symbols. You can’t trademark ideas or processes. Some examples of things I’ve trademarked for clients:

  • Brand names
  • Group program names
  • Online courses
  • Masterminds
  • Podcasts
  • Masterclasses
  • Healthcare practices
  • Physical products (e.g. journals and other tangible goods)
  • Non-course digital products

Once you choose the “I’ll Pay in Installments!” button above, you’ll be taken to an initial screen where you’ll fill in your name, business name, and business email address. You’ll then be taken to a screen where you’ll review and e-sign the contract for trademark services, and on the next screen, you’ll see your invoice. At the bottom right, where you see the pink Klarna button, click to “Pay Now.” On the next screen, “Billing Information,” choose Klarna and click “Pay Now.” You’ll then be able to set up a Klarna account if you don’t already have one, and choose whatever payment plan you prefer (all options might not be available to you), and complete your payment.

If you are interested in multiple trademarks at a time and would like to pay in installments, please reach out to Mairin via email or the Contact Us form and we can roll those payments into a custom payment plan.

No, sorry. We do everything we can to maximize your chances of success. Our preliminary search is so comprehensive and thorough, we go into the application process armed with as much information as possible so we can really assess your likelihood of success. I walk you through what I’ve found in the search results, and if there is something I’ve found that’s concerning and could either prevent or impede successful registration, will work with you to tweak your chosen name if necessary. But nothing is fool-proof. At the end of the day, it’s a judgment call by the trademark examining attorney as to whether your name is too close to an existing name, or whether it’s too generic, or any other number of possible reasons for denial (which is why you work with an experienced lawyer to minimize those risks!)

No, sorry. We do everything we can to maximize your chances of approval. If after we complete our thorough search, we discover a conflict or something that makes us doubt your chances of success, we will contact you to discuss how to proceed. This could include tweaking your chosen name to bolster your likelihood of successful registration. If you decide you do not want to tweak your name, and moving forward with the registration process is unlikely to be successful, we can trademark a different offer for you (within 6 months), you’ll just have to pay the trademark clearance search fee ($750). We’ll transfer the remainder of your balance to the new trademark application.

The only thing speedy about the trademark process is our response time to you. The entire process will likely take 14 months or longer given the backlog of the Trademark Office, so all the more reason to get started ASAP. Generally, after I complete my call with you, we’ll file your application within 2 weeks. It takes that long to conduct a thorough search, review and analyze all search results, and complete and file your application.

Yes, it’s an investment. We offer installment payments via Klarna so you can spread payments over up to 2 years. I will say that this is one of the most important things you can do for your brand, though, as it’s the only way to truly own your name and keep someone from using it. Further, if you’re building your business with the ultimate goal of selling, or licensing, a trademark is a non-negotiable. Most investors will not touch a business that has not been trademarked, and in order to license a program, course, or your brand, a trademark is essential because it is part of the assets being licensed.

As for Legal Zoom and other lower cost bulk providers, I’d say beware. It might be less expensive upfront, but if you have questions, or the Trademark Office has questions/needs more information (which is not uncommon), you will have to pay additional fees, which you won’t know at the start. Many of these services do not provide you an actual lawyer and just merely facilitate the original connection. I’ve corrected many applications that were incorrectly filed by these services. And with us, you’ll have an experienced lawyer who can walk you through the process, level set your expectations, provide you updates, and answer any questions you have.

Yes. In fact, you can’t trademark a name from outside of the United States unless you work with a lawyer licensed in the United States. So you’re in the right place.

Yes! If you would like to purchase more than one trademark, we will discount additional trademarks by 25%. Two options for proceeding: either go ahead and purchase your trademark here and we can chat on our call about your second (or third) trademarks which will be invoiced separately (they can be rolled into a payment plan, too), or reach out via the Contact form with specific details around what you want to trademark and how many trademarks you’re interested in, or email or DM us on Instagram if we’re connected, and we can roll all of your trademarks into one payment plan and get them knocked out simultaneously.

Unfortunately, no. The Trademark Office requires a name and logo to be filed separately, as it’s two different applications, two different sets of searches, and different sets of evidence required to be submitted with each application. We can trademark both simultaneously, however, but it is two separate applications. I recommend either trademarking both your name and logo at the same time, or, first trademarking your name and then trademarking your logo later. Please contact us via the Contact form about trademarking both your name and logo if you want to do both now.

Protect Your Brand Now