Trademark Research

I researched our trademark a while ago to see if it was available through a database linked to the US Patent and Trademark Office’s site.  This evening I have been going through USPTO’s step-by-step instructions for getting a trademark.

I have discovered a few things.  Every application needs a “representation of the mark,” which comes in two forms: the “standard character format [our choice],” or the “stylized” option.

Although I was originally thinking of filing through Legal Zoom, I am now considering going for it solo [in our partnership that is, without a middle man] with the Trademark Electronic Application System.  Unfortunately, it takes about half a year to hear back from them, either way.  Luckily, we can use the “™” symbol while the trademark is being processed.  Only once it is approved can we use the “®” symbol.  I fear that the patent delay will be even longer, but then we can rely upon the handy “patent pending” term.

I am somewhat confused about pricing.  In a sample version of TEAS, prices ranged from $275 to $325 [for a single class] and they said that the price was determined by how widely one could use the trademark [such as in vehicles, or vehicles and toys].  Legal Zoom only charges $169 it seems.  These issues will be resolved when I go through with the filing.

Harpo and I also need to decide on a name for our partnership, as I do not want to file individually or jointly.

Another discovery I made in my research is that there are 45 classes of trademarks, some of them not physical, and then there are non-conventional trademarks, such as the color pink relating to a certain brand of fiberglass insulation.

So far for classes and serial numbers, 12: Vehicles for Locomotion; C0174: Cars, and 28: Playthings; V0097: Vehicles, sound like the best options.  I am not sure what we will end up with.  I used www.wipo.int as my source, the official site for the International Classification of Goods and Services.