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If you do not register your trademark, you will have legal rights only within the geographic areas where you operate. This means you may be able to stop a subsequent user of the mark, even if it is a bigger company, from using the mark in your geographic area only.

In the U.S., you don't need to register a trademark or copyright your company's logo. Once you put down the original work on paper or digital media and use it to market your business, you automatically own the rights. However, registering a trademark affords you an extra layer of protection.

So, what happens if you go to market without a trademark? You'll get limited protection based on where you operate. This means that you won't be able to enforce your intellectual property rights outside of a specific geographic area. Ultimately, you and your business will be left vulnerable to brand theft.

You will need to register it as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The name that you select for your company must be distinctive to receive trademark protection. Common words or phrases that are not inherently distinctive are not offered trademark protection.

How To Copyright a Logo in 3 Steps: Use the © copyright symbol on your work. Ensure you can prove the date of creation. Register with a copyright witness service such as ProtectMyWork.com.

There is no requirement to register your logo as a trademark, but there are benefits for doing so. Priority: Registering your logo as a trademark gives you the priority to use that mark. If the logo isn't trademarked, you're only entitled to use it in your geographic area.

Using the trademark symbols TM, SM, and ® The symbol lets consumers and competitors know you're claiming the trademark as yours. You can use ?TM? for goods or ?SM? for services even if you haven't filed an application to register your trademark.

For example, the artistic elements of a logo may be protected under copyright law, while the logo itself is protected under trademark laws. Patents, trademarks and copyrights are all a part of intellectual property, but they each serve important and specific functions.