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So why do business owners need to trademark their business before launching? So I always ask people, will you build a house on lane? You don't? I'm gonna ask you guys, will you build a house on land you don't own?
I didn't?
No, right, right cause it makes sense, right, you're gonna before we build houses in America, Right, we go and we do a title search on the land and make sure no one owns the lands. There's no leans on the land or anything like that. Because if we go and we just start building a house on land and we haven't cleared the land, the owner of the land can come tear that house down. Right. It's the same equivalent when it comes to building a business on a
brand name and you don't own the name, right. And so being that I have been practicing this law for ten years, I have seen where people have invested their four one K plans or took out money, you know, from their retirement to invest in product and marketing material, only for it to be torn down by the rifle owner. Right. So I tell people, before we build brands and we build businesses, we want to make sure we're clearing the name and we're actually owning that name, so everything that
we're building on top of it is ours now. Okay.
So if we got to get the name to make sure that we own it, what where are we going to search for this? Like? Are there specific sites? I feel like most people have no idea. They'll just type in trade and whatever Google tells them that's what we're using. It might not be the most accurate thing. So what sites are we going through to ensure that if we use this name, we can own this name.
That's a great question. So what I would first start is with the USPTO dot gov and make sure it says dot gov and not dot com, right, because there can be some you know, fraudulent sites and things like that. So start with the USPTO dot gov, and you want to start broad because you want to see does anybody own the name? But also too, this is where it's important to hire an attorney because under the law it's not about what's the same, but what can be deemed
confusingly similar. So if you go to the USPTO dot gov and you search Starbucks, right, probably nothing will come up and you'll be like, oh, I'm good, I can go start a coffee company. Well, Starbucks is going to have a problem with that, because under the law it's not about what's the same ain't, but what can be deemed confusingly similar. So first I would start there, and then I would start with Google, and then possibly social media handles as well, and then just searching domains. But
it's also important that we understand the nuances of the law. Right. There's forty five different classes under trademark law, and sometimes you can have brands that co exist in a marketplace. That's why we have the chocolate doft soap, mac Makeup, Mac Computer, Delta Airline, Delta, Falsett, Pandora Jewelry, Pandora Music. So your name might come up. But if it's a plummet industry and you're in a beauty industry, you make
and coexist. Right. But where a lot of times people fall short entrepreneurs is they will say, Okay, my name is available, I'm gonna file the name, and they just pick a class and now they think they own that name in its entirety. You know. Recently I seen an interview from Caesar from Black Ink, and he talked about how he actually was surprised when he had his dog find an issue that he was let go from a show, the show that he thought he owned because he created
black Ink and a black Ink brand. Well, what season didn't know was and he filed his own trademarks too, and he thought he had his trademarks register, but he filed him for Tattooon Services and I think for a peril. But when he did his deal with Viacom with the reality show, they went and filed the name for entertainment services. And so there's a big difference there. So it's important that you understand those nuances.
And so inside that we shouldn't do this on our own. So some people will say, I can do I can figure this out by myself. Get an attorney.
Get an attorney. I have about five thousand clients, and a fourth of them either did in themselves first and then they had to come to us later, or they went to one of these in internet sourcing companies right, thinking they're hiring someone who would guide them and lead them. But they're just really data transfer companies where they'll take your data and transfer it into the information system in an LLC or corporation enough to have for ownership in
the business. And so that is also a great question. And the reason is is because as business owners, I always say an educated entrepreneur is a successful one. We have to understand the different legal vehicles and why they're here, right. And a lot of times people think, oh, if I got an LLC, I'm good. But the LLC might not even be the best entity type for you, right. But what we need to understand is what comes with that
formation of an entity. So under the law, when we file our entities, whether it's an LLC or a corporation or partnership, under the law, under our secretary of state. We're forming in it within our state. But that says that by us creating that company, it's going to give us a legal shield to protect us, the individual owner, from any legal liability that is to arise out of our business. We also may get some tax benefits from
that as well. Right, But no, no wherein the law does it says it's going to give you exclusive ownership rights to that name. Right, So you could form your business let's say in the state of Illinois, but if someone owns the trademark and Illinois said you can have this business name. But if someone owns the trademark, let's say in the state of Florida, they can shet your
business now in Illinois. So that's why it's important as business owners we understand these different legal vehicles and how they work and how they're set up to protect us. The trademark is there to protect our name, our logos, our slogans, and not a lot of people know. But you can also trademark a sound as well, like you got mail.
Interesting, so you brought up the state things. So now it makes me wonder there's a difference between filing the trademark and the state. Can we file federally as well, So like talk about the nuances and that that's.
A great question as well, because you can file your trademark on the state level, right, but when you file it federally, you get a lot more coverage. And I always say technology is moving faster than the law. So back in the day, you used to have to prove
interstate commerce in order to give federal registration. So a lot of people used the state law system to file their trademarks when before the Internet, right, Because now that we have the Internet, as long as your business is a ww dot com or you're on social media and you're offering your services or your products to anyone across the royal basically now you have interstate commerce. So with
the Internet, it kind of took that away. So you want to go for the broader coverage most as possible because you know there is a case and it arise out of the state of Illinois, and it was in the nineteen fifties where there was this restaurant, a small mom and pop restaurant and they sold burger shakes and fries, right, and so then there was a Florida restaurant that adopted the same name and they old burger shakes and fries as well, and so the Florida restaurant began to grow
very fast and very rapidly. And there was supposed to be an agreement that they will never come into the state of Illinois. Well, we know money talk and buy craft walk, and they came in the state of Illinois. Well, the state of Illinois restaurant filed a declaratory judgment under federal law to kick them out of the state of Illinois, and the court accid them. In the state of Illinois, they were the first users, right. The court accid them, well,
how far does your customers come to your restaurant? And this is a restaurant it's like in Matoon, Illinois, which is like maybe like two hundred miles south of Chicago, but it's right off a major highway in Illinois. And they said, well, they come from about a twenty mil radius. And so the court said, okay, well this company cannot
come within a twenty mile radius of your restaurant. But now you can't go outside of twenty mil radius of you restaurant because they have the federal registration and unfortunately federal trump state. So at do you know, like they boxed them in. But what's the name of that company? Can you guys imagine, like, what was the name of that restaurant, McDonald's. That's my first I McDonald's. What's the
other one? Burger King. So if you google right now the original Burger King, it's still gonna come up today and it's twenty twenty four and that restaurant in Withsoon Illinois is still open as the original Burger King.
Again, there was another Burger King.
Before Burger King, exactly in Illinois. So the big corporation Burger King. It originated out of Florida, out of the state of Florida, but the state of Illinois Burger King. They were the first users, but they didn't have federal registration. So that's why it's so important that we are. They're still there to this day. It's one store. It's just one store because they can never grow outside of that twenty mile radius.
They could put like four stores inside the twenty miles, but they don't make sense.
They wouldn't even matter.
Is not Burger King.
It's a restaurant, a fast food. It's a restaurant and they sell burger shakes and fries and it's called the original Burger King. So if you ever google Burger Kington, Illinois, it will come up so with.
The I mean, that's an incredible story, but it makes more sense to file federally or is it? Yes, I think it's more expensive as well.
Well it is, but sometimes the state registration is not as it's effective and impact of as you need it to be, especially in a day and age where the internet is here. Right, and see another thing why that story is so important is because trademarks are legacy builders. Right.
A trademark can outlive you. Coca Cola been registered since eighteen ninety three, Mercedes since nineteen oh three, right, and so a trademark can like so the original people who created that Burger King that that was a family owned business, so imagine what they could have did and expanded with their company. But they are now attached to this judgment out of federal court since the nineteen sixties, so it
limited their legacy. So I always tell people you want to secure your brand, not only to secure your bag, but you want to secure your brand so you can secure your legacy.
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