How to trademark a name
You trademark a name by registering it with the office of each place you sell in, for the goods or services you sell. Using a name gives you some rights in the United States; registration gives you the strong ones. In the EU and Israel, registration is the main way to get rights in a name.
1. Search the registers first
Check the name against the live marks in the registers where you will sell, by spelling and by sound, before you spend anything. The US and Israeli offices refuse a name that is likely to be confused with a live mark for related goods. In the EU, the office leaves that to the owner of the earlier mark, who can oppose. The search on this page reads the US, EU and Israeli registers and shows when each was read.
2. Pick your classes
Every mark is filed for one or more of the 45 Nice classes, and the office charges per class. Name the goods and services you actually sell, in the office's own terms where you can. Software you download is class 9; software people use in a browser is class 42; a store is class 35.
3. Decide what you file on
- United States: on use, if you already sell under the name, or on intent to use, if you do not yet. An intent-to-use filing registers only after you show use.
- European Union: one EU trade mark covers every member state; no use is needed to file.
- Israel: one national filing with the Israel Patent Office; no use is needed to file.
4. File with the office
File online: the USPTO's Trademark Center, the EUIPO's e-filing, or the Israel Patent Office's online services. Each takes the name, the owner, the classes and the goods. Filing from outside the country usually requires a local representative: the USPTO requires a US-licensed attorney for applicants based abroad, and the EUIPO requires a representative for applicants from outside the EEA after filing.
5. Answer the examiner
An examiner checks the filing against the rules, and in the US and Israel against the register too. This takes months. If they object, you get an office action and a deadline to answer it.
6. Publication and opposition
An accepted mark is published so others can oppose it: 30 days in the United States (extendable), three months in the EU and in Israel. Unopposed, it registers; a US intent-to-use filing registers once you file proof of use.
7. Keep it alive
Registrations last ten years and can be renewed every ten years without limit. In the United States you also file a declaration of use between the fifth and sixth year after registration. A mark left unused can be cancelled: after three years in the United States and Israel, five in the EU.
For a filing that matters, a trademark attorney chooses the classes and the wording, and answers the office. A register search is the step before, and it is not legal advice.