Business Questions

futuresoptions · 12-10-2009, 11:15 AM

When starting a mom and pop operation with aspirations of incorporating in the future, when should one worry about getting a trademark registered? What are the costs associated with doing this? I have noticed that next to some company logos that it will have TM for trademark and others will have the copyright sign. If I were going to start a restaurant called Mcdoogles in my home town as a mom and pop startup and wanted to sell a sandwhich called a big rack

when would I have to worry about protecting the names of each...

M.D. Holloway · 12-10-2009, 11:22 AM

you can check to see if it is used or not then if not you reg it with the US Trademark office.

United States Patent and Trademark Office

You should also check out the website for small business - http://www.sba.gov/index.html they provide a bunch of help.

Good luck.

MRM · 02:23 PM

You should get your names registered or trademarked before you open your doors and before you start using the names publicly. You should also either incorporate or organize into some sort of limited liability company before you open your doors. Neither is very expensive and the headaches you prevent by doing the paperwork before you open is worth every penny it costs.

It's not all that complicated to register your names or incorporate, but explaining the ins and outs of what's best for your situation is probably to much for posting on a bbs. There are so many good reasons to get it done before opening your doors that I can't list them all in a bbs entry, so I'll just tell you what you need to know. And that is that the best thing to do is to ask around and get a few referals to local lawyers who specialize in small business law; specifically organizing small companies. Someone who is experienced at it and has all the forms set up, it will be a snap to get you registered and organized. It will cost maybe $1,500 to $3,000 from start to finish. Someone who doesn't specialize in small business organizational work will take ten times as long, not do as good of a job and will charge twenty times as much. This is something that probably should be a flat fee, so ask what the firm charges to organize a new smalll business and register a few names. If they can't tell you a fee schedule off the top of their heads they're not experienced enough in that area for you to want to go there.

I do have enough time to share one cautionary tale that's on topic. Local to me there's a small but well known burger shop that registered the phrase "Who's your patty" several years ago. Six months ago Burger King started using that as the catch phrase in their national ad campaign. Small burger shop sued BK. Made some headlines locally. Business owner was interviewed about what it felt like to be in litigation with one of the largest corporations in the world and he just laughed the laugh of a poor man holding four aces in a high stakes poker game. Case got settled quietly a week or so later. For an undisclosed amount of money. I suspect small burger shop owner put a down payment on a beach house in Florida.

EDIT: The reason this is a cautionary tale is that if local burger guy hadn't properly trademarked or registered his slogan first, the BK guys would have eaten him for lunch (groan). And he would have been barred from using his own slogan and probably paying a big penalty. Instead, some hotshot corporate lawyer out there is trying to explain to one of his biggest clients how he cleared the use of a registered catch phrase.

stomachmonkey · 12-10-2009, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by futuresoptions

.....If I were going to start a restaurant called Mcdoogles in my home town as a mom and pop startup and wanted to sell a sandwhich called a big rack

when would I have to worry about protecting the names of each...

I assume you are just joking. If you do plan on doing that I'd advise against it. The Clown takes those matters very seriously and you will understand why clowns are scary.

futuresoptions · 12-10-2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I assume you are just joking. If you do plan on doing that I'd advise against it. The Clown takes those matters very seriously and you will understand why clowns are scary.

Just using as examples of tradename and a product...

Thanks for the info so far guys...