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FILING YOUR TRADEMARK APPLICATION |
Filing your own trademark application, or picking someone to do it for you on a lowest bid basis without careful attention to the level of skill, is not a realistic option. Read the USPTO warning if you doubt this. When you pay your $325 (present filing fee, which is not refundable even if your mark is refused registration) to the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO"), your trademark application will be examined by the USPTO's legally trained examiners. Conceptually, the individual examiners are supposed to be like judges charged with determining two questions: (1) whether or not the proposed mark conflicts with existing marks and (2) whether or not the applicant has otherwise complied with applicable rules of trademark law and procedure. While the relationship
between applicants for trademarks and the USPTO and its examiners is
not strictly adversarial, it borders on being adversarial in many cases.
Since the individual examiners have discretion in determining the fate
of applications assigned to them, they often differ on the two key questions.
They are well versed in trademark law, and those who deal with them
in the registration process must have similar knowledge. If
you feel you can go toe to toe with them, go to the USPTO site and
file your application for registration. If not, find someone who can.
Ideally, the person you choose should not only know trademark law but
have some experience dealing with trademark issues in the trenches of
trademark litigation. There are alternative sources for such knowledgable
trademark registration assistance. Click here for one of them. |
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