Ask HN: Importance of trademarking early on

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2023561

by bherms • 16 years ago

5 2 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Last week I put my first splash page up online with a notification signup form for people interested in when I launch my startup... Immediately a friend (who happens to be a patent lawyer), criticized me about not having trademarked my name/logo saying that someone could theoretically go trademark my name now and steal my brand. I believe this is highly unlikely, but it got me thinking at least about trademarking. Does anyone with experience in this area have advice? Should I throw my money at getting a trademark or is it really not that big of a deal right now?

supermanwillfly• 16 years ago

I'm in a similar boat. It really depends on how marketable your name is.

In my case, I made it up. I'm planning on getting a trademark before a full launch. They key point about trademark law is that it's hard to defend it if you go a long time and allow others to use it.

BTW, there's a good law question & answer site that you can ask your questions for free: http://www.avvo.com/free-legal-advice/Trademarks/ (no affiliation w/ me)

staunch• 16 years ago

I think it depends on the project. If you've raised money then you should always file the trademark as soon as you're settled on a name. If it's a little side project that might get abandoned then it's probably not worth the expense.

The other consideration is how important the name is. If you think it would be a really big deal to change names (in the worst case) then it might also be worth it.

What you should do in any case is check for existing trademarks. You don't want to name your product something that you won't be able to own the trademark for.

Ask HN: Importance of trademarking early on

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