Plain-English answers to common questions about choosing and protecting a brand name.
The distinctiveness spectrum, and why names that mean nothing make the strongest marks.
Deep dive · 5 minDescriptiveness, confusion, surnames, deception and the other reasons the USPTO refuses applications.
Deep dive · 4 minThe DuPont factors that decide whether two marks can coexist.
Deep dive · 3 minRegistration isn’t the end. Miss a §8 or §9 filing and the registration is cancelled.
Basics · 2 minThey protect different things. How to tell which one you need, and where they overlap.
Basics · 2 minUsing the wrong symbol is a small mistake with real consequences.
Basics · 2 minTrademark, copyright, patent and trade secret: how to tell them apart and where they overlap.
Deep dive · 2 minTwo ways to protect how a product looks, and how to choose between them or use both.
Practical · 6 minThree registers, three different answers, and the search mistake that makes a name look clear when it is not.
Practical · 4 minAvailability, registrability and infringement risk are different questions with different answers. Most bad decisions come from answering one and assuming the rest.
Practical · 4 minIdentical marks coexist every day. Whether yours can turns on relatedness, not on the word.
Practical · 4 minThe Secretary of State checked one thing, in one state, for one purpose. It was not whether you can safely use the name.
Deep dive · 4 minMarks are compared by sound, appearance and meaning, as a whole, from memory. Changing one letter almost never helps.
Practical · 2 minUsually yes, and the reason is the one thing people never check: what the word means for your goods, not what it means in general.
Practical · 3 minLonger than anyone expects, and the waiting is not the part you can control. What each stage costs in months, and which delays are self-inflicted.
Practical · 4 minA knockout search, a full search and a legal opinion answer different questions at very different prices. Paying for the wrong one is the usual mistake.
Practical · 2 minFamous marks are protected on goods they have never sold, by a rule that does not ask whether anyone was confused.
Practical · 4 minA trademark is not a claim on a word. It is a claim on a word for particular goods, and the class is where that gets decided.
Deep dive · 4 minA big graphic across the chest is decoration, and decoration is not a trademark. The refusal turns on size and placement more than on the design itself.
Practical · 3 minNaming the business after yourself is the most natural thing in the world, and the one the Trademark Act singles out for special treatment.
Practical · 3 minThe specimen is the photograph that proves the brand is real. It is also where a straightforward application most often comes apart.
Deep dive · 5 minDisclaiming a word is not giving it up, and it does not take the word out of the comparison when the next similar name comes along.
Deep dive · 5 minMarks are compared as wholes, and yet one part of a name usually decides the outcome. The rule for which part is not what most founders assume.
Practical · 5 minWords that praise the goods are treated as describing them. They rarely survive examination, and they never make a name stronger.
Deep dive · 5 minThe USPTO translates a name before judging it. The French word for clothing was held generic for clothing, by the Federal Circuit, in 2025.
Deep dive · 4 minA place name is refused when buyers would believe the goods come from there. Whether they actually do decides which refusal you get, and whether you can fix it.