Logo/ Trademark

[eseel]

What is the name of your state?
Delaware

I am looking into starting an apparel line that will be sold on a national basis. My logo and name have been created. How do I accurately check whether the name has been registered? How do I also check if the logo or something similar is in use? Thanks in advance for the help.

Erik

 

[gwendat]

logo/trademark

Minnesota

Erik, We currently have battled that same issue, and now with the help of a very good trademark lawyer, we feel fortunate there were few out there nationally that were similar to our name. If you plan to go national you need to spend a lot of time researching every state for business names that might be similar, the US patent and trademark office for anything close to your name. Stores that may already carry something similar to your name... It is an endless task. You can also hire someone REPUTABLE to do a full trademark search for you, can cost $500 or more for that alone. Filing your name and logo with the trademark office is also costly, and has to be done correctly or they will throw it out on you. You need to have documentation of 1st use to support your trademark, so keep ALL your records, or someone else may come up with a prior use. The main thing is, RESEARCH it thoroughly before you sink a lot of $$ into a name or logo that can't be trademarked. Good luck!