Thread: I have a great business idea...need tips *Millionaire Status*

Agree with Patrick. That's how trademarks work. That's the shortcut to marketability with trademark protection. Nolo publishes a great book on that subject. A trademark by the way won't keep people from infringing on you... it will only provide you with a legal platform by which to sue them if and when they DO infringe on you. It is the start of a game, not the end game.

Originally Posted by PatrickP

What I would do is put a ™ next to your log and the name of your company and call it a day. If you end up making a good profit go ahead and file for a ®

I had to do this with my current product but only because the name of the product pretty much described what it was. They wouldn't grant me the Trademark. My attorney recommended that I do that because it will scare people away. Most people don't bother checking to see if it's really trademarked. We actually wound up Trademarking the company name and put "the ----" by Likwid Concepts™.

I would think that if your going to go ahead with this project then you might as well splurge on the trademark. It's not that expensive and it's worth it if you have a clever name. You can use the ™ symbol while your waiting for it to be approved.

I really didn't want to go through a trademark attorney...I planned on doing it myself online, what do you guys think is the price difference of having an attorney go through the process of the trademark, or me doing it by myself?

Just buy the domain and open an LLC or Corp. Then it doesn't matter, you have your claim staked on the things that matter. If someone else takes it it is free advertising to your domain.

Originally Posted by Kak

Just buy the domain and open an LLC or Corp. Then it doesn't matter, you have your claim staked on the things that matter. If someone else takes it it is free advertising to your domain.

How exactly do you go about getting an LLC? And how long does it take to process? Thanks!!!

Originally Posted by Vigilante

Agree with Patrick. That's how trademarks work. That's the shortcut to marketability with trademark protection. Nolo publishes a great book on that subject. A trademark by the way won't keep people from infringing on you... it will only provide you with a legal platform by which to sue them if and when they DO infringe on you. It is the start of a game, not the end game.

And if you do decide to go to court over an infringement the one with the most money wins.

Case in point my friend had a product a YEAR before Emergen-C Hers was called Emerge-NC almost the SAME exact formula and look to the box. She had trademarked the name BUT they go to court her atty tells her well you are going up against a multi BILLION dollar corp. It will probably cost you well over 200K possibly half a million dollars to defend this and you still might now win. She said forget it as they don't even make 500K a year on the product.

So the one with the most money will win. This is why I don't register trademark anything.

So basically if $1000 to get a registered trademark is not much to you do it. To me I would never spend that sort of money to test an idea, it seems the OP probably doesn't have a ton of money to start with.

Originally Posted by PatrickP

And if you do decide to go to court over an infringement the one with the most money wins.

This is very true. We were looking into design and utility patents for our product but after thinking about it for a while, if a larger company wanted to copy our product, there is basically nothing we can do about it. If we went to court, they would slaughter us and we would be out of business. We decided to start with a provisional for real cheap then work on building our Brand.

Originally Posted by Likwid24

This is very true. We were looking into design and utility patents for our product but after thinking about it for a while, if a larger company wanted to copy our product, there is basically nothing we can do about it. If we went to court, they would slaughter us and we would be out of business. We decided to start with a provisional for real cheap then work on building our Brand.

lol reading your post put a smile on my face in a good way. I read phrases like utility patent and provisional patent and think WOW that is SO cool! Like when I hear them talk about it on the Shark Tank or read it on this forum.

Then I think some day I will be an adult and have something that needs a patent

Ok so then I will pass on the trademark idea for the time being and get my LLC. Do you guys know where the easiest/fastest place to get it is?

Also, Patrick you are right, I don't have a ton of money to spend being a college student and all but I just want to make sure I'm as safe as possible.

Thread Resurrection!!! I applied for a Trademark about a month or so ago and got an email today saying my Trademark is currently live and appears to be in good standing with the United States Trademark Office. I know I'm only in the beginning stages, but it is officially real and finally in the process.

Agreed and had the same sort of Experience with Energizer's legal team. Our lawyer advised us the same and we forgo a potential 3.1 million dollar hit. It was a hard pill to swallow, after working hard to launch and market a product and then having to walk away from it... but it was the wise choice.

We are still here.

Originally Posted by PatrickP

And if you do decide to go to court over an infringement the one with the most money wins.

Case in point my friend had a product a YEAR before Emergen-C Hers was called Emerge-NC almost the SAME exact formula and look to the box. She had trademarked the name BUT they go to court her atty tells her well you are going up against a multi BILLION dollar corp. It will probably cost you well over 200K possibly half a million dollars to defend this and you still might now win. She said forget it as they don't even make 500K a year on the product.

So the one with the most money will win. This is why I don't register trademark anything.

So basically if $1000 to get a registered trademark is not much to you do it. To me I would never spend that sort of money to test an idea, it seems the OP probably doesn't have a ton of money to start with.