TrademarkWithSam

The Journal

Understand your
trademark before you file it.

Plain-English answers to the questions business owners actually ask, without the fear tactics.

11 Articles · 3 Categories

Fundamentals

5 articles

What Is a Trademark?

The word, name, symbol, or design that tells customers a product or service comes from you. It's the foundation everything else here is built on.

4 min readRead

What Does a Trademark Actually Protect?

A trademark doesn't protect an idea, a product, or a business. It protects the identifier, and understanding the difference changes how you use it.

3 min readRead

What Are Trademark Classes?

The USPTO doesn't register a trademark in the abstract. It registers it for specific goods or services, organized into 45 international classes.

3 min readRead

TM vs. SM vs. ®: What's the Difference?

Three symbols, three very different legal meanings. Only one of them requires a federal registration to use.

2 min readRead

Trademark vs. Copyright vs. Patent

Three different kinds of intellectual property, protecting three different things, and business owners regularly assume the wrong one covers them.

3 min readRead

Filing Process

4 articles

When Should I Register My Trademark?

Earlier than most business owners think, and there's a specific filing basis for businesses that haven't launched yet.

4 min readRead

Why Trademark Searches Matter

Filing without a clearance search is the single most common way business owners lose money on a trademark application.

3 min readRead

What Happens After You File a Trademark Application?

Filing is the beginning of a process that typically runs somewhere between eight months and well over a year. Here's what happens in between.

4 min readRead

What Is a USPTO Office Action?

A formal letter from the examining attorney raising a legal or procedural issue with your application, not a rejection, and not the end of the road.

4 min readRead

Protecting Your Mark

2 articles

What Happens If You Don't Register Your Trademark?

You can still operate, but you're building on ground you don't fully control, and the risk compounds as your business grows.

3 min readRead

Common Trademark Misconceptions

The gap between what business owners assume about trademarks and how the law actually works, and where that gap tends to get expensive.

5 min readRead