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- 1). Conduct a search of your proposed trade name on the website of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). If someone is using your trade name for one product, it won't necessarily prevent you from trademarking that name for an unrelated product. McQueen's Hardware, for example, doesn't necessarily infringe McQueen's Dry Cleaning.
- 2). Use your trade name in actual commerce. You may use it in advertising, for example, or affix it to the product itself. As long as it doesn't infringe another trademark, the use of your trademark endows it with automatic trademark protection.
- 3). File an online application for trademark registration with the USPTO. Although registration is not required for trademark rights to be granted, registration puts other parties on notice that you are using the trademark, makes it easier to prove that you are using the trademark, and allows you to file a trademark infringement lawsuit in federal court. You will need to submit a specimen photo of your trade name in use, classify it according to industry, and pay a variable fee of several hundred dollars.
- 4). Respond to any questions put to you by the USPTO. If the USPTO denies your application, you may appeal to the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
- 5). Renew your registration periodically. You will have to submit an affidavit guaranteeing that you are still using the trademark. Renewal registrations must be filed after five years, after nine years, and every 10 years thereafter. You have one year after the earliest renewal date to file (any time between the fifth and sixth year after initial registration, for example). If you fail to file renewals and to pay the associated fee, your registration will lapse, although your trademark will still carry the status of an unregistered trademark as long as it is still in use.
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