Branding, Taglines and Trademarks- Perform a Search Before Making Decisions!
Your business just started to take off and you are ready to start making decisions for a financially successful long-term brand. These decisions might encompass a variety of marketing strategies: logos, advertisements, and taglines (slogans). It may be possible to trademark the graphics and slogans you choose to use to market your business and doing so, once the graphics or slogans are first used in commerce (i.e., you actually use the content to be trademarked in your sales), it is smart to go ahead and file an application for the trademark(s). Doing so will protect you and your business from potential infringement by other individuals or businesses and maintain your business reputation from attack.
However, many entrepreneurs and small businesses do not think to engage an attorney to perform a trademark search prior to making any branding decisions. Any attorney should perform a trademark search for existing registered marks before filing an application for a new trademark. Doing so will make certain that money is not spent attempting to register a conflicting mark and help to insulate the client from potential trademark infringement claims. Similarly, branding decisions are not cheap. Production of graphics, logos, advertisements and slogans is a costly endeavor for any small business. Furthermore, if the graphic, logo, advertisement or slogan commissioned is similar enough to an already existing trademark to cause confusion, the small business might be liable for trademark infringement.
Make sure to engage an attorney to perform a trademark search and assessment before making any branding decisions and moving forward with any advertising campaigns you or your business may be contemplating. Doing so may save you and your business a substantial amount of money (and headache) in the long run.
