The main goal of the trademark name is to uniquely distinguish your restaurant from competitors. This article will show you the the five steps in registering a trademark.
There are millions of restaurants in the United States as well as in Europe. This calls for a unique identification to set apart one restaurant from another. A trademark is one of those unique identifiers that can help your restaurant to stand out from the rest.
Our goal in the discussions that follow is to aid you to trademark a restaurant name appropriately.
Why trademark a restaurant is important
For a start, a trademark is basically a unique and special word, phrase, symbol, or a combination of any two or more of these. It is assigned to each business. No two businesses may have the same trademark symbol or a variation of the same at all.
Below are some of its benefits:
✓ Uniquely Identifies
The main purpose of the trademark name is to uniquely distinguish your restaurant from others. This way, it prevents your customers and clientele from getting confused. It enables them to easily identify your outlets from the vast array of the other options.
✓ Deters and Prevent Others
To beat the competition, some unscrupulous restaurateurs may resort to counterfeiting and imitations. By far the most effective way of forestalling this likelihood is the use of the trademark names. It achieves this end by reason of it being legally registered.
✓ Protects from Infringement Claims
From time to time, there is the possibility that your clientele may violate the terms of references that govern your dealings with them. One of the surest deterrent mechanisms is the use of trademark names. It is legally registered and unique. This enables it to shield you from ever falling victim to infringements.
✓ Boosts Visibility
The trademark name also boosts the visibility of your business by enabling it to be easily noticed by potential clients. That’s because the symbol is unique as has already been stated. This means that no two restaurants can bear the same trademark. As such, your clients can never be confused at all.
✓ Enhances Customer Loyalty
Given that the symbols are a permanent part of your business throughout its total lifespan, it helps to enhance customer loyalty. Customers can easily identify the restaurants and repeat their visits to the same premises severally.
The process of accomplishing this feat varies slightly from one locale to another within the United States. In the discussions below, we will take you through the overall procedure of accomplishing the same. We will highlight and briefly explain the steps you ought to generally follow to register a restaurant name successfully.
5 Steps to Trademark a Restaurant Name
Below is the main process of trademarking your restaurant name as broken down into five steps:
Step #1: Write several choices for a restaurant name
Come up with as many possible names as possible.👈 The least should be three and the most should be around five. This is to minimize the inconveniences that you may have to confront in case your preferred name is already taken.
Rank the names in order of preference. Place your most preferred name at the top and the least preferred at the bottom.
As a general rule, your preferred names should be closely mirrored to the nature of your restaurant as possible. They should also be short, easy to memorize, and straight to the point.
Step #2: Find Out if the Restaurant Name is taken
Approach the registrar of businesses and present your list of names to him. Rank the names in order of preference. Your most preferred name should be at the top with the least preferred at the bottom, as has already been stated.
The registrar will search the records to ascertain whether those names have been taken or not. He will then assign you the one you most prefer.
PS: Some jurisdictions do have a portal that lets potential business registrants check the availability of the names themselves. Find out whether your jurisdiction has this facility or not. Take advantage of it in case it is available.
Step #3: Visit the appropriate website for business name registration for your state and complete your restaurant trademark application
Each state has a department that carries out the process of business, patent, and trademark registration.
Most have websites that are designed to expedite this procedure. Pay a visit to your state’s website to complete your application.
In case your state lacks such a website, you may have to pay a physical visit to the nearest office or branch.
Step #4: Pay your application fee
This process is carried out for a fee. The amount of fee levied varies from state to state. In some instances/states, the amount may even vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Be sure to familiarize yourself with the relevant fees for your area. Proceed then to pay the application fee. Be on the lookout for any fraudsters that may be intent on scamming you.
Step #5: Wait for around 6 months to see if Trademark Office has approved your application
After you have submitted your application and paid the relevant fees, give the relevant office time to process it. The total time taken may vary considerably depending on the state or jurisdiction of choice.
In general, the waiting time lasts no longer than 6 months. In case you do not receive any correspondence from the said office within that duration, you may have to launch a complaint or follow-up.
⚫️⚪️ The Differences between Trademarking and Copyrighting
Whereas both the copyright and trademarks protect property, they differ slightly. The following are the main ways in which they differ:
– Kinds of Assets Protected
Trademarks are mainly used to protect real, tangible, and visible goods. These include products, business premises, and organizations as a whole.
Copyright, on the other hand, is mainly used to protect intellectual property. These include artwork, literature, music, and movies, among others.
– Lifespan
Under international law, copyright protection expires 50 years after the death of the copyright owner. Any person may thereafter freely distribute, copy, and utilize the materials at will.
Trademarks, on the other hand, remain a permanent part of their owner. As such, they can never be violated at any time at all.
– Registration
Registering a copyright is a pretty symbol. The interested person is simply required to place the special © symbol in his work, and that’s it!
Registering a trademark symbol, on the other hand, is quite tedious, elaborate, and involving.
– Details
Trademarks are very detailed. They contain several pieces of information concerning the property they are intended to protect. That’s why they are also used to uniquely distinguish those products.
Copyrights, on the other hand, are a bit shallow.
CONCLUSION
It is our hope that you have found the explanations above eye-opening. We also hope that all of your concerns have been appropriately addressed.
We would love to hear from you as regards the quality and reliability of the contents above. Have your concerns been adequately addressed? Are there any areas you feel we may have left out?
Please drop a comment below, and we will surely follow it up!
