Trademarking your logo

[Kemble]

I'm sure many of you have your company logo trademarked. Mind sharing where you had it done? Local law office? or through the web? I'm thinking about using legalzoom.com The real question I'm debating is weather or not I want to spend the extra money to get anything higher than their basic $169+govt filling package.

Is spending the extra $120 really worth 1 year of infringement monitoring?

How long does it usually take from file to "approval"? Are you allowed to put the TM on your logo while it's pending? or is that where the "R" comes into place?

 

[G-Artist]

That is a DIY thing at the federal level. Fill out the form, (get it from the Web site) include
the graphic (if there is one) and attach the check. That is, assuming you dabble in Interstate
Commerce and can prove you do. I do my best not to. You can also register as a Service Mark.

You can get state protection as well if that is how far you wish to limit yourself.

Several ways. Some states have a registry. Apply just like the feds. Others, if you are a
corp., get it automatically. My state, Florida, recently extended that Corp. name protection to
LLC's as well. Sole prop's still have to pay their registration fee but no protection which means
there could be 10 business entities with the same name in the state. And if you want them
to stop (assuming you were the first) it is on your dime in the courts.

 

[TheSnowman]

Every time I have checked into it for certain things...it's more like $800, so not sure what I was doing wrong to not see it for as low of a price as you are finding.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i'm sure you can do it yourself..but i've always used my attorney for my own and my clients. i applied for a patent once and it took me the better part of a month to gather everything that they wanted and navigate through the paperwork, the next one i hired an attorney it was the best money i ever spent because he had been through the process hundreds of times...i wouldnt advise using any attorney but if you have one you trust, that does what he/she says they will do (they can be hard to find)...to be honest i would pay my attorney more money for what he does for me, he saves me a treemendous amount of time and money...

i also refuse to work on my own cars or do my own plumbing..it is my experience that i can make more money doing what i do for a living versus fumbling through tasks that i am not skilled at...but that is just me.

 

[binki]

you can do it via legalzoom.com. inexensive and easy for you.

you can put TM on you mark without applying. it is recoginzed in the US but not international. you get the circle r when you get approved by the feds.

one thing to note, make sure that whatever you submit is the most generic form. if you mark is a shape with specific colors and font then that is what you submit. if not, submit black and white with a plain font and submit in writing that color and font is not important.

 

[G-Artist]

I guess if you can't muddle through the Fed's easy-to-read forms then places like Legal Zoom
(who are being sued once again by the Bar) can be of help. But if you can fill out the LZ
on-line form then you can certainly fill your federal app just as easily. Plus there has to be
100's of Web sites, run by lawyers, who give free advice. I can't see paying the extra $$$.

I just filed two provisional patents over the past few months and I ran one by an IP lawyer
who is also a client and he thought I did an excellent job. It took a bit of study but it
wasn't brain surgery. I am going to use him for one of the patents once the provisional
runs out because it is tricky (I am not sure I did all the proper research as I failed to use
the public library for journal articles that may be relevant). The other I am going to re-copy,
add a few lines and file.

But hey, some of us enjoy building our own shop equipment and others like buying
off the rack, so to speak. To each his own.