I recently went through the process of trademarking our logo and tagline. It was a very tedious process! First we had to perform research to determine if there was already another company with our name and/or tagline. If so, there were several ways it could have been handled. One was to write a cease and desist letter. What ever the process, don’t consider trademarking unless you have legal counsel.
A trademark is a brand name. As defined by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), a trademark or service mark includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of others, and to indicate the source of the goods/services.
Although federal registration of a mark is not mandatory, it has several advantages. Three include: notice to the public of the registrant’s claim of ownership of the mark, legal presumption of ownership nationwide, and exclusive right to use the mark on or in connection with the goods/services listed in the registration.
The USPTO offers an online “Basic Facts” publication to assist the business owner in the registration process. It provides recommendations and step-by-step procedures on how to trademark your information. If you don’t know where to start, this is a great resource for download and review.
To get you started, the USPTO has developed several helpful videos.
Introduction to the USPTO and Trademark Basics
http://youtu.be/o4zwq6MEaKw
More videos listed here – http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/process/TMIN.jsp