Delirium wrote:
FWIW, it's $335 in the US, also for 10 years. However, I'm not sure I
like the idea of spending our money in this way. At least in the US,
registering a trademark is not necessary to claim trademark ownership:
the only requirement is that you show use of the trademark. In fact,
registering doesn't help you if you don't show use of the trademark,
so that's the only requirement, registration or not. Really the only
things registration gives you, at least in the US, are the ability to
sue for punitive damages, and some procedural things (like petitioning
to US customs to ban the importation of infringing foreign products).
You can still do the normal "cease and desist" thing without a
registered trademark.
Not that registering a trademark is completely worthless, but I think
for what we're doing, simply using it is sufficient, and registration
gives marginal additional benefits, so we can find better uses for $1k+.
One of the biggest benefits is evidentiary. If both you and someone
else try to use the same trademark, the registration is prima facie
evidence that you used it when you did. For many small enterprises
records are often deficient, and proving first use can be a problem.
Ec