Why Is a Trademark Important?
Author: Nathan Moore

Most business owners do not give a second thought about
their trademark. Whether it is a small town bakery or a
self-employed handyman, most business owners go on their
merry way, completely unconcerned about owning their own
trademark.

Sometimes this works out okay. Often times, it works out
okay. However, it takes only one major infringer with
superior assets to water down one's brand and goodwill and
significantly diminish or destroy one's livelihood. For
instance, what if you have developed a reputation for good
service as a plumber? You charge reasonable rates, don't
take advantage of people when they call frantic when their
kitchen pipes burst, and always complete your jobs in a
timely manner. Now imagine that another outfit starts
competing with you, using a similar name and taking your
customers, using the years of good service and customer
care that you built. With a federal trademark, showing you
with the first registration of your name (and precluding
the use by anyone of anything confusingly similar), the
matter is over before it really begins. If you do not
possess such protection, you must rely on state common law
protections, which means you are paying for your own lawyer
(if federally registered, you can get attorney fees as part
of any settlement or resolution), and it is entirely
possible that you simply may not win.

Securing your business brand forever is an inexpensive
process and is one of the smartest things any entrepreneur
can do. If brand did not matter, then Wal-Mart, Microsoft
and Panera Bread would not bother registering their company
names with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO). But guess what? They do, because it does.

The USPTO filing fees are reasonable, and a good trademark
attorney can do a common law, federal and state search to
ensure that your trade name is registerable.

When you decide whether or not it is worth a few minutes of
time and a small amount of money to protect your brand,
think of the plumber. The protection is infinite as long as
you use the name, and the deterrence effects are greater
because any infringer will be responsible for the attorney
fees and costs you expend in defending your mark. In
today's information economy, common law protections are
simply not enough. If you have not yet made the decision to
register, another day of delay may only help your
competition.


About the Author:

This helpful article is provided by Nathan Moore, the
proprietor of http://www.mooretrademarks.com and a
practicing attorney admitted to the Tennessee bar, the
United States District Court for the Middle District of
Tennessee, and the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.