Sometimes clients come to me and ask how they can protect their business’s name or brand. They’ll find that a competitor is using a name that is very similar to theirs or a web address that is similar to their business’s name and customers are being diverted away from their business. The best thing you can do is to register a trademark for your business’s name. When you’re operating under a trade name, as soon as you start a business and are using a name in commerce, you have that trademark. Registering it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office gives you statutory damages. This means should somebody be using a name that is confusingly similar to your business’s name, you can prevent them from using it and receive a large monetary penalty for their infringement on your trademark.
The first thing to do is to register your trademark and that will prevent any competitor or anyone else from using a business name that is confusingly similar or intentionally similar and diverting your business. I recommend you hire an attorney to do this as the trademark registration process is extremely complicated.
The attorneys at Mattleman, Weinroth & Miller, P.C., are experienced in business law in the state of New Jersey. If you need legal help trademarking your business, please contact the office to set up a free initial consultation.