Looking for Help With Trademarks in Allen, Texas?
For Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
We Turn Your Brands Into Assets.
Profit: Trademark Your Name, Slogan or Logo
Save : Eliminate Guessing, and Months Of Headaches
Guard :Protect Your Brands & Keep Competitors Away
Also : Patents, Copyrights, LLCs, & Incs.
For Startup & Early-Stage Businesses and Inventors We Turn Your Ideas and Knowledge Into Assets
Operate: Can you sell your creations without being sued?
Patent and Trademark Searches Show the Way
Monopoly Profits: Can You Own Your Best Ideas?
Registered Intellectual Property Assets Support Revenue
Fast: Do You Want to Save Months Mistakes of Trying to Do It Yourself?
Protect Your Ideas, Brands & Trade Secrets Professionally
As Seen In:
3 Steps to Start with Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights:
Let’s Look At What You Have
Call or email me to schedule an appointment. If you have an emergency, you’ll be moved to the front of the line.
Let’s Develop a Plan
On a detailed followup call or video conference, you’ll share your business and invention goals. You’ll leave with clarity and a plan for protecting your ideas and turning them into assets.
Your Plan Goes Into Action!
After our followup meeting, you’ll receive a detailed plan. You’ll know what to do, how long it will take, and how much it will cost so you can move forward with confidence.
More About Trademarks: Your Brand Identity
Trademarks identify the source of origin of a good or a service with words and/or logos.
What You Will Learn Here: Branding Essentials, and How to Start Protecting Your Brands Today.
A trademark is a type of intellectual property. It can be a word, phrase, logo, design or combination of these. It identifies the source of goods or services. Confusingly, in addition to Federally Registered Trademarks, there are state trademarks, and common law trademarks.
Registering your business as a corporation or other entity with a secretary of state creates NO TRADEMARK RIGHTS.
TM / SM / ® . . .Marketplace What’s the Difference?
TM (Trademark for goods) or SM (Service Mark for services) alert the public of claims to an unregistered mark. You do not need to have a trademark application filed or a registered trademark to use these symbols. The registration symbol ® may only be lawfully used when the mark is federally registered with the USPTO.
Oh, and yes, “Fanciful” and “Famous” Trademarks you’ve read on ketchup bottle labels have real definitions and legal meanings. We cover these in our seminar on branding.
Selecting a Branding Identity
Carefully selecting your brand identity prior to filing for registration saves time and money.
• Procedurally, it will be easier successfully register the mark.
• You’ll also save reprinting costs from having to change brand identity.
Trademarks are typically classified into four basic categories: generic, descriptive, suggestive, and arbitrary.
• Generic marks are not registrable — they are just too common.
• Descriptive marks are usually not registerable since they describe the good or service.
• Suggestive marks suggest the product/service and may be registerable under some conditions. Tree Top suggests fruit juice or birds, and Home Depot suggests home improvement.
• Arbitrary marks are the easiest to register since they have absolutely no meaning associated with the owner’s product or service, such as the word “Exxon.”
Risks of NOT Patenting
What might happen to your business if you decide to not file a patent to protect an invention? If you think trade secret laws will protect you, think again. What if someone breaks into your computer system (or an ex-employee carries materials away) and publishes your trade secrets on the Internet? It may surprise you to know that if they are published, they are no longer secrets, and are then free for the world to use. That’s right – if an employee leaves and publicly discloses your trade secrets, they become free to the world.
What happens if an employee accidentally places a copy of a trade secret document in a public folder at a trade show? The trade secret just went away. If it were patented, by contrast, it would still be protected (although if the patent had already issued, it would no longer be secret).
Trademark Searches
A trademark search determines if the mark you’re considering is eligible for use and/or federal registration. It also predicts the extent of your rights (for example, existing common law rights survive even if you receive a federal registration). For words or logos, a search should be conducted of federal records maintained by the USPTO. A State trademark and Common Law search should also be completed since the rights in trademarks vest initially with the first to use the trademark in commerce. Thompson is a trademark search company that searches all of these databases, and so we recommend using them to perform a trademark search.
Federal Trademark Registration: The Ultimate No-Brainer
Federal Registration tells the world that that the owner is entitled to use the mark throughout the United States for the goods and/or services described in the registration, subject to the prior-use rights of others. Federal Registration of a trademark can last indefinitely if properly renewed.
There are two types of trademark applications: “use-based” or “intent-to-use” (aka “intent based”). A use-based application is filed when you’re already using the mark in interstate commerce. An intent-based application is used if you want to reserve a mark for future use. However, due to limitations, and costs associated with intent-based applications, in all but the rarest cases we typically only suggest filing use-based registration applications.
Benefits of federal registration over common law and State Registration:
• establishes nationwide rights to exclusively use your name or logo with respect to a market, versus common law rights that are geographically limited to the area you actually market. provides access to injunctions
• allows for the impounding of infringing goods,
• legal presumptions that your mark is valid and enforceable (legal presumptions are valuable — just ask O.J.),
• the ability to recover attorneys fee.
Moreover, doesn’t it just make sense that if you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars–perhaps millions–on letterhead, literature, marketing, packaging, and product design that you should spend less than one percent of that on securing the right to exclusively use that name or logo?
It just so happens that I know how to register a trademark — that includes how to trademark a name, how to trademark a phrase, and how to trademark a logo — and can bring my experience to your project, so you can, if you’re entitled to it, get a registered trademark.
Your Next Step:
To begin the process of protecting your brands, (1) call/email us and (2) quickly search Google, Bing, or Duck Duck Go for your Brand’s name, and when you call, ask us about how to get a trademark search you can be proud of.
Inventions & Patents
If you want to protect your invention, a patent is the best way to do it because without a patent you will be knocked-off. A patent is a government-granted right to exclude others from making, using…
Funding & Licensing
Intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights are assets that you can use to generate revenue and get funding. A license agreement is the contract that gets you…
Brands & Trademarks
A brand can be a word or logo or design that identifies goods and services, while a trademark is the legal right to exclude others from using confusingly similar marks. A trademark can be a state registration, a federally…
LLCs & Incorporation
When should you incorporate? How and where do you incorporate? Heck, should you incorporate at all?
Incorporating creates an entity you can use to do business through, and has advantages…
From Our Clients
Entrepreneurship
“Steve has impeccable skills and a love of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Brad Taylor
Inventions and Business
“Really, really good at patents! Beyond patents, Steve understands the business world.”
Lisa Lloyd
Trademark Defense
“Steve coordinated a successful defense when a major competitor tried to kill us in the cradle with their Trademark.”
Charles Gillis
Understands Inventors
“When I met Steve, I didn’t even know where to begin. Steve is able to make impossibly complex business issues understandable.”
Logan Smith Riise
You: Inventor, Entrepreneur, or Innovator?
Click Below to Find Out
NIKOLA TESLA
Inventors like you want more than just legal rules — you need experienced counseling and coaching to get through the maze
HENRY FORD
Ready for this? I actually want you to do business – and lots of it. I want you to close deals – and lots of them. Innovative businesses . . .
THOMAS EDISON
Congratulations! There’s never been a better time to be a busienss owner or entrepreneur in Allen!
Timing:
Today’s inventors and entrepreneurs can do more, faster than ever. Let’s do a quick comparison:
In 2004 a little business called Digg created software that enabled users to like webpages or articles. It took Digg six rounds of funding and $49 Million to create its product and grow. Today, you know them as Facebook’s “like” functions.
Today, Digg’s same functionality (heck, much better functionality) can be created over a long weekend. In fact, most of that time would be devoted to Design. If you have any doubt, just join in on the next Startup Weekend in the area!
Allen’s Bethany and McDermott developments are among the most exciting in the Metroplex. Soon, entrepreneurs will congregate in the co-working spaces and accellerators that are rumored to be locating there soon!
Location Advantages: Economic Growth
Today the entire DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth) Metroplex is where the USA goes to do business and Addison, Texas is in the middle of it all: from the “5 Billion Dollar Mile” (now, actually having $10 Billion under Development) in Frisco that include the new Dallas Cowboys headquarters, to T-Mobile, Oracle, Conifer Health, Code Authority, Gearbox, Randstad Technologies, Kenexa, Fiserv, to HCL Communications and Level 3 Technologies (to name a few), to Irving’s famous names such as Exxon-Mobile, Lockheed, AT&T, and Flour, to Richardson’s Texas Instruments, and Fossil, to Plano’s JC Penny, Dr Pepper – Schweppes, and a host of other household names, today Dallas – Fort Worth and its notable suburbs are all business destinations (that are also a great places to raise a family), and Addison’s central location make doing business all over the Metroplex easy.
Speaking of DFW . . . unless you’ve been stranded on a remote island, you’ve probably aware that DFW is one of the fastest growing area of the United States both in terms of population, as well as economically. Indeed, it’s suburbs, including Frisco and McKinney, are consistently ranked in the three fastest-growing cities in the USA, and have been for nearly a decade. But Dallas isn’t just about economic growth, it’s also about family events from the State Fair of Texas to professional sports from the Mavericks, and Stars to the Cowbows, Thunder and FC Dallas. Addison’s central location make doing business all over the Metroplex easy, and social events in Addison, Texas such as Kaboom-Town USA make addision a great place to live, too!
Allen’s University Community
The Southern Methodist University, is anchored in Dallas, and it’s (SMU) Guildhall located in Frisco offers an array of programs for software video game entrepreneurs ranging from weekend classes, to advanced-degreed programs in game design and development. Collin College’s has a Campus in every suburb, and an expansion campus of the University of Dallas (UD). The Guildhall’s annual pitch and presentation event is a must-see!
The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), located in Richardson, offers an array of programs for entrepreneurs ranging from weekend classes, to degreed programs in entrepreneurship. UTD is also home to an tech-incubator, and frequently hosts special events for inventors and entrepreneurs, such as Startup Weekend, as well as presentations by Dallas Maverick’s owner and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban.
Area Inventor and Entrepreneur Resources:
In and adjacent to Addison inventors and entrepreneurs find that resources abound. Tech Wildcatters, the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, Genius Den, and DFW Excellerator are popular ‘heart-of-dallas’ startup institutions, while in Frisco The North Texas Enterprise Center has become a regional hub for innovative startups, and at Legacy Park you will find WeWork’s newest facility. Financial resources also abound, such as the North Texas Angel Network. Oh, and check out LaunchDFW.com!
Finding a Trademark Lawyer in Allen, Texas
ably here seeking a patent attorney … well, I’m Steven Thrasher and I’ve been in patent law since 1996. And, in that time, I’ve helped hundreds of business owners and entrepreneurs (who I call “Game Changers”) transform their ideas and inventions into patented assets that generate funding, help the business (and the owners) gain influence and attention, and earn revenue while escaping the competitive pressures of commodity businesses. Some of my clients have been on television shows like Ellen, Steve Harvey, C NN, Fox News, Fox Business, Shark Tank, and dozens of other programs. I would love to add you to our tribe of happy clients.
In additional to provisional and non-provisional (utility) patnet applications, I solve problems related to trademark, copyrights and copyright law, web-domain registrations, and general intellectual property portfolio development. Also, I coach businesses about their basic needs including incorporations (including LLCs), contractor agreements, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and where to go to get reputable and reliable website development, design work, branding, copywriting, financiang and insurance.
In service to the community, my firm (Thrasher Associates) has been active in the North Texas Technology Business Counsel, Tech Wildcatters, and regularly networks with the North Texas Angle Network and Baylor Angel Network (among other angel investor organizations).
I’m honored that you are considering doing business with my practice. Please take advantage of our free resources, and if you have a brand or an idea worth protecting, it’s worth your time to pick up the phone and give me a call.