Basically, lawyer trademarking is hiring a trademark lawyer to obtain your trademark registration, while self-trademarking is doing it yourself. In practice, however, it is much more complicated than that, and there is a large difference between hiring a trademark law firm and self-trademarking. Note that there is no legal requirement that you hire a top-rated trademark attorney for trademarking, but there are many reasons why you should. As with any do-it-yourself project, you will need to have the personal time and dedication to learn each aspect of the process, and you should expect to make mistakes. There should be no imminent deadline by which the project should be completed. As a metaphor, lawyer trademarking is like hiring professional contractors for home repair or remodeling. You can do it yourself, but do you really want to?
How Much Do Trademark Lawyers Charge to Register a Trademark?
Most people opt for do-it-yourself tasks as a method of saving money. But consider what your time is worth. Further, hiring experienced trademark lawyers is not that expensive. Trademark clearance searches are generally charged based on a flat fee arrangement which ranges from $250 for a basic search up to $1,000+ for more extensive clearance searches and the complexity of the trademark. Registration is also generally charged as a flat fee rate ranging from $750 to $1,250.
What Does a Trademark Lawyer Do?
The goal of trademarking is to create a trademark that can be registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Experienced trademark attorneys have gone through the process many times. Thus, they can get the process completed efficiently, quickly, and with no mistakes. For those that want to try and self-trademark, here are some of the essential steps:
- Create a strong and distinctive trademark — the USPTO will only register trademarks for the Principle Register that are distinctive and strong; as an example, word trademarks are strong and distinctive if they are fanciful or arbitrary like a made-up word — EXXON and GOOGLE; weaker word marks like GREEN FARMER’S PRODUCE might not be registrable or only placed on the Supplemental Register; experienced trademark lawyers will quickly recognize the difference; self-trademarkers will need to learn the difference.
- Search for already existing trademarks the same as or confusingly similar to the proposed trademark — a trademark clearance search is not legally required but is the first step that the USPTO takes in evaluating an application; if the proposed trademark is the same as or is confusingly similar to an existing trademark, the application will be rejected; this will require starting over or amending the application; thus, a clearance search should be done, and a self-trademarker will have to learn how to conduct a proper search.
- Completing the application and paying the USPTO fees — USPTO forms and fees are done online; self-trademarkers can complete the application form (there are instructions provided); however, if there are mistakes on the form, the self-trademarker will receive correspondence from the USPTO Examining Attorney, and the mistakes must be corrected and the application amended; a trademark lawyer will complete the form correctly, handle any correspondence or questions.
Contact the Trademark Attorneys at Revision Legal For more information, contact the experienced Trademark Lawyers at Revision Legal. You can contact us through the form on this page or call (855) 473-8474.
