When you are on a road trip, what sign would make you stop and eat: the Golden Arches of McDonald’s or the red roof of a Pizza Hut? Would your spouse be excited to receive a light blue box for their anniversary? As you can see, color and images play a huge role in reminding customers what your company, its products or its services stand for. These are all trademarks: the visual aspect of your brand. Trademarks can go beyond visual, and include sounds (“Intel inside”) and s

Trademark usage and rights are a very complex area of law. Rights can be obtained in three different ways: Companies or individuals can obtain some rights in trademarks just by using them in commerce. This is called “common law” protection and gives the company the exclusive right to use the mark in the area of actual use, plus a reasonable zone of expansion. Common law protection allows you to prevent other businesses in the same geographical area from using a trademark that

A trademark is something that identifies a good (trademark) or service (service mark) as coming from your company. The “generic” reference for both of these is “mark” or “trademark”. Trademarks can be words alone (APPLE for computers), a design (the Chevrolet chevron), words and a design (MICROSOFT with the window icon for computer software), or words or letters in a certain style (the Ford script). Trademarks can also be abbreviations (VW cars, Bud beer), slogans (Just Do