How to choose a trademark attorney

First of all, technically you are not required to use an attorney at all to apply for a registered trademark. In fact, the Trademark Office website is chock full of trademark tutorials on how to apply for a trademark yourself. So you can teach yourself how to do it. But there are quite a few tricks that a someone who has experience can use to increase the likelihood that you will actually receive that coveted trademark registration certificate. Which leads us to the first factor in choosing a trademark attorney…

Experience in filing trademark applications

Once you have identified one or more trademark attorney’s you can find out how many trademark application they or their firm has filed. Go to the trademark search function and click on “Basic Work Mark Search,” On that page, find the blue “Structured Search” button and click that. In the Search Term, type in the name of the attorney within quotes like this: “Michael Mort”. In the Field select “Attorney of Record” and click submit query. You’ll see a list of trademark applications where that attorney is the attorney of record. The list does not show all the trademark applications that came from the same law firm, so partners who are teaching associates how to file applications are going to be under-represented in the list.

How many is enough applications to demonstrate experience? Hard to say, but upwards of 50 is probably more than sufficient. Less than 15 is probably somewhat deficient.

Does the attorney’s law firm have their own trademark

If a trademark attorney does not believe in the value of a registered trademark for their own law firm, then why are they recommending that you get a trademark for your business?

Is litigation experience necessary

The vast majority of trademark disputes and infringement claims settle through negotiations. In fact litigators are a special breed of trademark practice who do not necessarily know the steps for filing a trademark application. So bottom line is that litigation experience is not a predictor of who will be best to help you obtain a registered trademark.

Entrepreneurs are going to save the world, and Argent Place^® Law wants to help. Whether you are ready to start your own company now, or you are expanding your business, or you’re getting ready to sell your business, Argent Place Law can help you succeed. Think how great it will be to have a lawyer with entrepreneurial experience on your speed dial whom you can call up and say, “I want to start a new company to deliver the best damn widget the world has ever seen! What do I do next?” In fact, the attorneys at Argent Place Law even have experience teaching entrepreneurs how to file their own trademark applications. Those workshops were suspended during covid, but we are discussing how to re-introduce them in another, more accessible way. If you want to learn more about how Argent Place Law can help you protect your brand schedule an appointment, or just call Argent Place Law to find out: 703-539-2518.