Investing your money and time in building a particular brand and then seeing the name being utilized by another, taking all of your hard earned reputation, is not really a pleasant state of affairs. There are times when the trademark owners get stuck in protracted litigation as when they had the time they did not carry out the trademark registration of the brand name. The process of trademark registration for the brand name is not too difficult. A few easy steps, as mentioned below, with the help of your lawyer, would help you get the legal protection for your brand name.
The reasons to hire a lawyer for trademark registration
There are lots of legal works that you can do on your own and the trademark registration process is also one of them. But things become a lot easier than ever when you get an attorney to help you with the process. You will get to know more as you read along. When you hire an experienced lawyer, he will make sure that you do not waste money in filing for a trademark that you will never get. He will increase your chances of getting the trademark, and at the same time, make sure that your trademark holds value. In fact, it is important to hire an attorney who can ensure that you meet the trademark requirements and not choose something that is really similar to an existing trademark.
The steps to get trademark legally registered by a lawyer
There are a couple of steps in the process of getting your trademark legally registered through a lawyer and they are as follows:
- Trademark search
Many businessmen are not able to understand the significance of trademark search. Having a distinctive brand name is not the reason to avoid trademark search. The lawyer will help you perform the trademark search to give you a fair picture of where your trademark’s uniqueness.
- Filling the trademark application
After you get to know that your chosen name is unique, you can now move on to registering it. Your lawyer will file the trademark application form at the Trademark office. This application can be filed both online and offline and your lawyer will take care of the details of the legal procedure.
- Trademark examination
The trademark application gets examined by the examiner for any kind of discrepancies. It takes around twelve to eighteen months for the examination, following which, the examiner can absolutely or conditionally accept the trademark or object. Given the fact that you lawyer has been thorough about the process there are no chances of objection by the examiner.
- Trademark publication
Trademark publication is done to allow others to have the opportunity to oppose it, if they feel it infringes their brand name. The trademark goes on for registration if there is no opposition even after three to four months of publication. If there are objections raised, then there will be a hearing at the registrar, which will be handled by your trademark attorney.
- Registration certification
After the application goes on for trademark registration, and it gets published in the trademark journal, you will receive the registration certification under the seal of the Trademark office of the country.
- Trademark renewal
You will need the help of an attorney because the process does not end here. The trademark has to be renewed continuously after every ten years to make sure that your brand name or logo stays protected continually.
The process of trademark registration does not need much effort when you proceed with an experienced attorney by your side. So, go ahead and initiate the process at the earliest.
