Hello again - I met with the lawyer yesterday - it is a rather
expensive proposition to have his assistance. $1,000 lawyer fee.
$350 to the FTC to research the registry for the similarity of
other marks. $245 fee to register.
Has anyone successfully registered their trademark (hallmark)
without the assistance of a lawyer? Am considering moving ahead
without doing the $350 search - going under the assumption that
my mark - as it is stylized - will be different enough from any
other cw’s out there. If my application is rejected, it will be
less money spent than doing the search first!
my wife is really great at this kinda stuff, i am not.
she got our trademark all set, a ‘gf’ on a popsickle stick
looking thing with an oval circle going around it. she didn’t do
the search either. so… about two years later a co. who had a
trademark ‘gfi’ with a round circle going around it. they
challenged and we are not able to use the trademark.
the two marks in my opinion didn’t look anything alike, my wife
did speak to a lawyer about it, his opinion was that the
challenge would hold up. so we had to ‘decrease or resist’, er
um, desist.
i would reccomend skip the lawyer and do the search.
Cynthia, Let us know how it turns out. I think that I’ve finally
hit upon a significantly unique mark too. Also, do you have the
URL for the FTC for obtaining their forms. I thought I’d saved it
but it has been lost in endless deleted mail. Georgie
i would reccomend skip the lawyer and do the search.
I’d agree. Remember too, that you can do at least a good deal
of the initial search right on the patent and trademeark office
web site, where much of the recent database is on file and
online…
For a low priced trademark search, try http://www.micropat.com
For $30 per day they give you online access to currently
registered trademarks as well as pending trademark applications.
Hi again Cynthia. Re: registering without a lawyer…
honestly, when our class had a guest lecturer come in to explain
the process to us, he never mentioned a lawyer at all! I was very
surprised at my searches on the internet and your posts. I know
that in Canada there was a jewellery magazine that used to
publish the hallmarks with pictures every year, but even if they
still do that, it doesn’t help you much. Can you contact the
office of the registrar, or whatever, and request they send you
a list? Good luck! -Kieran
Cynthia, I went as far as buying the books and also talked to an
attorney but decided in favor of spending my time on making more
jewelry and my money on tools. There are two publications :
Trademark,how to name a business and product by nolo press- ISBN
0-87337-311-1 or call nolo @ 1-800 -955- 4775; or call the U.S
department of commerce for their free pamphlet
“Basic Facts About Trademarks” which like its title suggests is
pretty basic. The first book is oriented toward the layman,the
latter toward attorneys(bureaucratic babble).
Please let me know how your efforts come out. I’m still
interested in registering and would be gratefull for any info.
Cynthia, Are hallmark files on the web in the US? They are now
in Canada and you can do a search there for free. If you can do
a search it might speed up the process.
I attempted to register my mark in Canada without a lawyer.
There was quite an exchange of paperwork to it, but had I been
able to search existing marks on the web I am sure it would have
gone through because I got to the point of being gazetted.
It failed because Waterford Crystal opposed my application for
the use of COLLEEN as they have a line registered under that
name. Had the files been online back then I would have known
that … . Actually, I KNEW it as I have a piece, but I would
not have thought that a trademark on crystal could impinge on one
for metal. Live and learn. And actually, the exchange with
their lawyers was ‘interesting’ in itself.
So, if you are at all a logical person, and especially if you
can do a search ahead of time, I’d say go ahead and try it
yourself.
If you discover that there is a website, could you let us know?
Re: registering without a lawyer…