This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice for any individual matter, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship between you and the author or the publisher. This article discusses concepts and methods applicable to U.S. law and may differ in other jurisdictions. When conceiving a new brand […]
USPTO
How to do preliminary trademark screening on name ideas
Note: I am not an attorney. This article about preliminary trademark screening is for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice for any individual matter, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship between you and me (the author) or the publisher. For further questions, I strongly recommend you speak to a […]
Pitfalls in the naming process
When it comes to the brand naming process, we usually only see the final result: the new name. At that point, it’s easy to pick out flaws. The name might be hard to pronounce, offensive, or too similar to a competitor’s brand. But what about mistakes along the way? The “bad” brand names we encounter […]
What’s in a trademark?
In everyday parlance, the intellectual property terms “trademark,” “patent,” and “copyright” are used interchangeably. For brand strategists and managers, it is prudent to discern one from the next and, specifically in relation to building brands, understand what it really means and requires to “trademark” something. Let’s start with what a trademark is not.
Trademarks and the spectrum of distinctiveness, part two
Drawn from a seminal 1976 federal lawsuit, the spectrum of distinctiveness sets out the relative legal strength of various types of marks. Part Two of a two-part series.
Trademarks and the spectrum of distinctiveness, part one
Drawn from a seminal 1976 federal lawsuit, the spectrum of distinctiveness sets out the relative legal strength of various types of marks. Part One of a two-part series.
Resources used by professional namers (Useful List)
Namers are increasingly finding that online tools and software—as an augmentation or replacement for offline tools—provide new capabilities and make the more efficient. Here’s a list, which we’ll update periodically, of online tools and software used by professional namers.
