Should I file a trademark now or should I wait?

Short read:

Ideally, you want to file a trademark for your brand as soon as you realize that your brand is valuable and that you don’t want to lose it to somebody else.

If you have spent time coming up with a unique name and logo, then you should take the time to protect it by trademarking.

Imagine what happens if you don’t trademark your brand?

Somebody may steal your name and use it as theirs. Or, you may receive a cease and desist letter asking you to stop using your name.

It is much more difficult for you to enforce your rights if you don’t have a registered trademark.

Registering your trademark is one of the most cost-effective and practical ways to protect your brand.

File a Trademark, by waiting to register you are not gaining anything but you are risking your brand. If somebody else decides to register your brand, it will be much more difficult for you to prove your rights.

So don’t delay – register today!

Long read:

The registration of a trademark is not compulsory and is completely voluntary. There is no legal requirement that a trademark must be registered. However, a business has so much to gain in protecting its trademarks through registration and literally everything to risk and to lose in the event of a trademark being “stolen” by a third party, diluted/copied by similar brands, and/or its products being pirated or passed off.

While the use of unregistered trademarks may have some limited protection depending on the length of its usage, on the amount of goodwill or reputation the unregistered brand has, and on the applicable common laws; trademarks without the benefit of registration cannot completely be protected. Most legal remedies for owners of trademarks that are infringed upon by third parties are only available if the trademarks are registered.

For example, a third party using a confusingly similar trademark can be sent a cease and desist letter for them to stop the use of such trademark on the ground of another business having a trademark registration for a similar brand. The registration presupposes and serves as evidence that a trademark is owned by its registrant. In case of failure to comply with the demand letter, the trademark registrant may file a complaint for trademark infringement against the third party encroaching on the rights of the registrant in connection with the exclusive use of their registered trademark. Moreover, the trademark registration will allow the registrant to claim monetary damages against the infringing third party in relation to the unauthorized use of the trademark.

These business strategies and legal remedies for the protection of the brands of a business will only be at the disposal of business owners if their brands have trademark registrations. Enforcing business owners’ rights over their trademarks will be complex and much more difficult if their trademarks are unregistered. Worse, scrupulous third parties may even register other business owners’ brands and may put the business owners who had been legitimately using their unregistered trademarks on the defense. In both cases, protecting their businesses will be complicated and will likely require lengthy and costly litigation.

Such complications on a business can be avoided simply by obtaining trademark registrations.

As registration is voluntary, it depends on the business owners when to file an application to register a trademark or brand they use in their business. However, it is prudent and most ideal that a brand is applied for registration as soon as the business realizes that the brand is valuable and that it does not want to take the risks associated with the use of unprotected trademarks. It must be remembered that a brand name or a business logo, like any other business assets, is a type of property that must be safeguarded.

Protecting a trademark through registration makes sense for a business that has spent time coming up with a unique name and/or logo. It will be a waste of time, resources and investments if a business had capitalized on the use of its brand and on building its reputation, only to discover later that another business has already registered either the same or a closely similar brand. As such, checking the availability of a word, slogan or logo for use on branding and marketing, as well as its eventual registration can be said to be a basic due diligence on the part of a business owner.

Trademark registration is one of, if not the most, cost-effective and practical ways to protect a brand and a business. The longer the delay that a trademark is applied for registration, the more likely a business is subjected to unnecessary risks and losses associated with passing off, piracy, unfair competition in the marketplace, and intellectual property theft.

Updated Nov 5, 2021