Once you’ve set up a business entity and started selling your products or services, one of the next steps is to file for trademark protection. Trademarks protect things like your business name, your web site, and the names of your products or services. You can even file to protect any logos that you might use for your business.
To qualify for a federal trademark – with the well-known “R in a circle” – you have to be doing business in interstate commerce. For most people, they can qualify by selling goods over a web site.
But if your business is strictly local in nature – for instance, if you operate a restaurant, a health club or a nail salon – you can still get trademark protection from your business by filing with the State of New York. In fact, filing state trademarks is less expensive overall than filing for federal trademarks with the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
So feel free to contact me at (315) 877-1741 with your questions about how trademarks can protect your business, or send me your questions at the Contact link above. Thank you.
