Protecting Your Corporate Name
It’s essential that you protect your corporate name. So, the first thing that a new business owner must do is register the name of the new corporation. This is a simple process and all you have to do is submit completed paperwork to the state’s Secretary of State’s office along with the requisite fee. The Secretary of State’s office will make sure that no two corporations are registered under the same name. By registering with the Secretary of State’s office your corporation will get a legal identity that is separate form the identity of its founders. This step is also essential if you plan to register the name as a trademark. Registering with the Secretary of State’s office will give you name protection only within the state as one can register a name in any on the 50 states. To get absolute protection, you must register the name as a trademark or service mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
So, why is it important for you to protect your corporate name? Consider this example. You have just started a new business. You have searched around for that perfect name and you have finally hit upon a winner. You have also consulted all the databases to make sure that this name is not currently in use. You have proceeded with your marketing campaign and invested vast sums of money into it. You have also built up a reputation for offering great service. Your satisfied customers have started to spread your name among their friends and competitors alike. You have finally started to reap the benefits of your efforts when you find out that a new business near to you is using your name and stealing your business while doing so. That’s your name hanging in his window, and that’s your business out through the window!!. This could have happened to you if you hadn’t protected your business name by registering it.
Once you register your new business name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, you will be protected by the federal courts and they will give nation wide notice about your claim to the name as a trademark. The procedure is simple enough thought the whole process can take up to an year to complete. You can obtain the application form from the website www.uspto.gov. You can file the application online or you send them the completed forms by post. You can also check the status of your application online
You can demonstrate your claim to the name as a trademark adding a small “TM” at the end of the name. This send a message that you have registered this name and that if can’t be borrowed. But to get the complete protection you need to wait for the national registration. Once you get this, you can demonstrate it by including an R in a circle, “®,” at the end of your business name. So in essence you can get protection for your name before you get the national registration which is as mentioned earlier a long process. You have to file periodic affidavits of use Patent and Trademark Office to keep the proprietary nature of the name alive. If you don’t use it for a certain number of years, you will lose ownership to your name and others can use it.
Once you have established your registered trademark. You need to find out if others are using it. You can proceed with this “policing” by searching on the internet and conducting investigations within your industry to find out the culprits. You also have to make sure that whether their using your trademark is causing customer confusion with regards to your business identity. If you find some one out there, you can dissuade them through a strong letter. If that doesn’t work, you may have to resort to litigation.
It is difficult to build up a good name in today’s market place. You can accomplish this only through good exemplary service. So it is essential to protect this name against all possible infringements and to retain the customer good will associated with your company’s name.
