Add Conditional Fields Legal Texas Trademarks Forms For Free

Conclusion: While both steps are important, registering your business entity (LLC/S-Corp) typically comes first to ensure you can operate legally. After securing your business structure, you can then focus on trademarking your name for brand protection.

In many cases, a trademark can even mirror a company's pitch or unique selling point. Just look at the timeless slogan trademarked by Wheaties: “the breakfast of champions.” It's also worth it to trademark a phrase because you can prevent other businesses from claiming the rights to use it.

Once a trademark registration is more than five years old it becomes more difficult to invalidate the trademark rights. If the registration is less than five years old, the party challenging the trademark rights can rely on any ground that could have prevented registration initially.

You must file a "Declaration of Use under Section 8" between the fifth and sixth year following registration. In addition, you must file a combined "Declaration of Use and Application for Renewal under Sections 8 and 9" between the ninth and tenth year after registration, and every 10 years thereafter.

Texas registrations expire after 5 years unless the registrant submits a renewal to our office during the last 6 months of the 5-year registration period. A mark must still be in use at the time of the renewal. See Form 902. Owners of registered marks are responsible for enforcing their rights to their marks.

You can literally amend a trademark application in dozens of different ways. And, you may be surprised to learn that it's more likely than not that your application will need to be amended at least once during the registration process.

If and when a trademark application has been approved for publication, you can oppose the mark only during a specific time period. The publication period is a 30-day window during which any member of the public may seek to oppose the mark.

You can request changes in your Statement of Use form. For any other filing basis, there's a limited window for requesting minor changes before publication. If your trademark has been approved but not yet published, submit your request as soon as possible to allow for processing.

Can you add goods or services to a registered trademark? No, you can never add goods or services to a registered trademark that would expand the zone of protection. You have to make a new trademark filing which will be reexamined by a USPTO examining attorney. Why?