Trademark practice, in plain English.
Short guides to the parts of US trademark law that carry a deadline — what the register is telling you, and what you have to do about it.
How to protect your trademark after you've registered it
Registration is the start of the obligation, not the end of it. Four things keep a mark alive and enforceable: using it, maintaining it, policing it, and using it correctly.
How to trademark a name: the process, start to finish
Searching, choosing classes, filing basis, examination, publication, registration — what actually happens when you register a name with the USPTO, how long each stage takes, and where applications fail.
Trademark vs copyright: which one protects your brand?
Trademarks protect names, logos and slogans that identify who made something. Copyright protects creative work itself. They're different rights, granted by different offices, and confusing them costs businesses real money.
What is trademark infringement? The likelihood-of-confusion test
Infringement isn't about identical names. It's about whether ordinary buyers would be confused about who's behind a product — a multi-factor test where similar-but-different marks routinely lose.
How to do a knockout trademark search
A knockout search rules out obviously unavailable brand names before you spend money on them. Here's how to run one properly, what it can't tell you, and when to get a full clearance search.
How to monitor a trademark (and what to check)
A practical routine for monitoring a US trademark: what to watch, how often, which deadlines to docket, and what to do the moment a conflict appears.
The Section 8 declaration deadline, explained
A US trademark registration dies if you don't file a Section 8 declaration of use between years 5 and 6. Here's the timing, the grace period, what you file, and why the USPTO won't remind you.
The trademark opposition period and the 30-day clock
When a US trademark application is published for opposition, you get 30 days to object. Here's how the window works, how to extend it, and what your options are once it closes.
What is trademark watching, and do you need it?
Trademark watching means monitoring new filings for marks confusingly similar to yours, so you can object while objecting is still cheap. Here's what it covers and when it's worth paying for.
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