Registration of Trademarks
We also register trademarks for operating businesses. It’s always a good idea to protect what you’ve created!
What is a Trademark? A trademark is a name or logo that is used to identify the source (that is, the brand) of product or service. It is different from a copyright or patent (more on that below!).
Why Register a Federal Trademark? Trademark registration can be important for many reasons; the most important, though, are that it gives the trademark owner certain exclusive rights with respect to the trademark in the classes in which it is registered, and also gives the trademark owner the ability to sue others for trademark infringement if the need arises. Owners of “common law” trademarks generally do not have those rights.
What is the Cost? We charge a flat fee for the first trademark, plus filing fees charged by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (the USPTO). The USPTO currently charges $350 per “class” using the type of application that our attorneys prefer to use. If we are filing multiple trademarks for you at once, we may reduce subsequent flat fees. The flat fee includes our consultations with you, answering any follow-up questions you have, as well as any responses to minor objections or follow-up questions that the USPTO may raise.
How Do You Calculate Filing Fees? Filing fees are determined by class, as trademarks are registered by the products or services in which you want to register them. If you wish to register in two classes, the filing fee payable to the USPTO will be $700 ($350 x 2).
International Trademarks
We also handle international trademark registrations through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This allows us to register U.S. trademarks throughout the world efficiently and fairly quickly. We generally do this type of work on an hourly basis, and filing fees vary depending on the countries in which the trademark is registered.
Registration of Copyrights
From movies to songs and books, we also work to register federal copyrights. Here’s a bit more about what we do:
What is a Copyright? Copyright refers to original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. This can apply to books, music, movies, websites, marketing materials, short stories, photographs…you name it!
Why Register a Federal Copyright? Federal copyright registration can be important for many reasons; most importantly, though, it gives the owner unambiguous rights to the work, and gives the author the right to sue potential infringers if others choose to infringe upon that work.
What is the Cost? In most cases, we charge our normal hourly rate for copyright applications, and the U.S. Copyright application fees are generally less than $100.