A trademark is an essential tool for a business that is seeking to establish or protect its brand identity. Your trademark helps consumers recognize, trust, and remember your brand which allows you to stand out from your competitors. A successful trademark registration provides legal protection for your business’s intellectual property and it can be a valuable asset that enhances a company’s value, making it more attractive to prospective investors.

At Doré Rothberg Law, our trademark team prides itself on helping businesses protect the intellectual property they have worked hard to create. We want to help you and your business secure your legacy for years to come. Many of the firm’s attorneys have also been business owners, and we understand the importance of setting yourself apart in the marketplace.

Our Trademark Attorney Services

Trademarks are used to protect symbols, names, and logos that represent a company’s goods, products and services. Trademarks are governed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the process of registering a trademark involves multiple steps that take several months, and often more than a year, to complete.

Trademark Search

The first step is to perform a thorough trademark search to confirm that no other business is using, or has registered, the proposed mark. About half of all trademark applications are rejected, many because of just this issue. Doré Rothberg Law has the resources to perform a comprehensive search, reducing the likelihood that your application will be refused.

Preparation and Filing of Application

If your proposed trademark is not in use, we will prepare and file your application with the USPTO. Our experience with these filings enables us to meet the complex legal requirements and minimize the risk that your application will be rejected due to incompleteness or inaccuracy. Once the application is filed, it joins the river of hundreds of thousands of applications waiting to be reviewed. It will be assigned to an examining attorney, who will search for similar existing trademarks and evaluate whether the proposed mark meets the legal requirements for registration.

Office Actions

Should the examining attorney spot any deficiencies with the application, they will issue an “Office Action,” an official letter outlining the problems with the application or with the proposed mark. Those are issues which must be resolved before your application can be approved.

A trademark attorney at our firm will submit Office Action responses in a timely manner to keep the application process moving forward. Where necessary, we also communicate and negotiate with the examining attorney and prepare any required amendments to the initial application.

Publication for Opposition

If your application is approved, it will then be published for 30 days in the Official Gazette, which is the official journal of the USPTO. This publication gives others the opportunity to oppose the registration of the trademark if they allege that it infringes on their own intellectual property rights. Because a successful opposition can scuttle the application process, we advocate for you against any parties that oppose your trademark application, negotiating to settle disputes if possible.

Trademark Application and Registration

Trademark applications that meet all legal requirements and have not been successfully opposed receive a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO. At this point, an applicant must either file a Statement of Use showing that the mark is being used as intended. If the mark is not yet in use, the applicant must file a trademark registration extension called a Request for Extension of Time.

The trademark lawyers of Doré Rothberg Law can prepare these documents to ensure that your trademark application is not deemed abandoned. Once all of the filing requirements are met, the USPTO issues the registration certificate for the trademark. Even under the best of circumstances, the trademark application process is long and complex. We work with you to keep the process moving and avoid potential pitfalls that could be costly to your business.

Portfolio Management

Registering a trademark is only the beginning of protecting your intellectual property. Our trademark attorney team at Dore Rothberg Law can also monitor your trademark portfolio, ensuring that registrations are renewed in a timely fashion.

We Help Protect Businesses and Entrepreneurs

At Doré Rothberg Law, we believe that the best way to deal with legal problems is to avoid them altogether. Our trademark practice is designed to help protect businesses and entrepreneurs.

To learn more about Doré Rothberg Law and how we can help protect your company’s success, contact us to schedule a consultation with a trademark attorney today.