With the videos and descriptions available at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at www.uspto.gov, it can seem that applying to register a trademark on the federal register is so straightforward that anyone can do it without much thought. You might even wonder why a trademark lawyer is needed. Maybe you have even considered using a service like LegalZoom that fills out the forms for a small fee.
But in truth, the seeming ease of the process is deceiving, because it is easy to make mistakes when filing a trademark application, some of which could significantly lessen your legal rights and even get your trademark cancelled.
Some things can be fixed—trademark attorneys regularly amend applications to comply with the requirements of a trademark examiner during the process of getting a registration. But a few things cannot be changed. If they are wrong, you’ll have to start the process over and pay another fee to the government. Watch particularly for problems with these items: [Read more…]