Trademarks

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Trademark services from clearance and USPTO registration through licensing, coexistence agreements, advertising review, TTAB oppositions and cancellations, and enforcement against infringers and counterfeiters, so your brand earns rights you can defend and put to work.

A brand name is often the first asset a company creates and the last one it thinks to protect. Our trademark services cover the whole life of a mark: clearing it before you invest in it, registering it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, putting it to work through licenses, and stopping others who copy it. We handle filings and disputes in the same firm, so the record we build when you register is the record we rely on when we enforce. As a litigation and transactional firm, we draft every application and license knowing how marks are actually challenged at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and in federal court.

What Our Trademark Work Covers

Trademark law protects words, logos, slogans, trade dress, and other source identifiers under the Lanham Act and state law. Our services span clearance searches and opinions, USPTO applications on use-based and intent-to-use filing bases, office action responses, Statements of Use, post-registration maintenance under Sections 8, 9, and 15, and international filings through the Madrid Protocol. We draft licenses, assignments, and coexistence agreements, review advertising and marketing claims, and handle disputes from demand letters through TTAB proceedings and federal litigation. We also address domain names and UDRP complaints when a registrant trades on your brand. Each filing is treated as the foundation for later enforcement and licensing, so we choose the classes, the identification of goods and services, and the specimens with those later uses in mind.

The Trademark Services We Offer

Trademark registration includes clearance, a filing strategy that picks the right classes and identifications, and prosecution through the USPTO. Trademark licensing drafts agreements that grant use while keeping the quality control the law requires to avoid a naked license. Trademark enforcement monitors for infringement and dilution, sends demand letters, and litigates against infringers and counterfeiters. TTAB proceedings covers oppositions, cancellations, defense of your registrations, and appeals from Board decisions. Coexistence agreements resolve conflicts between similar marks by defining each party's lane through products, channels, territories, or presentation. Advertising and marketing work keeps claims substantiated and influencer campaigns compliant with the FTC Endorsement Guides, and it pursues false advertising claims against competitors before the National Advertising Division or in court. Each service has its own page.

Oppositions, Infringement, And Counterfeits

Trademark disputes run on a ladder. At the low end, a well-drafted demand letter resolves many conflicts. At the TTAB, we oppose applications within the 30-day window after publication, or after an extension, and petition to cancel registrations on grounds such as likelihood of confusion under Section 2(d), abandonment, or fraud; some grounds are cut off five years after registration. In federal court, we bring and defend claims for infringement under Section 32, unfair competition and false designation of origin under Section 43(a), and dilution of famous marks under Section 43(c). Against counterfeiters, the Lanham Act allows ex parte seizure orders and statutory damages. Our trademark, copyright, and media litigation service handles the courtroom side, and we pick the forum by what you need: a refused registration, an injunction, or damages.

Clearance, Licensing, And Brand Deals

Most trademark value is created or lost in ordinary business decisions. Before a launch or rebrand, we run a clearance search and give you a written risk assessment, so you are not building a brand on a mark someone else can stop. When you license a mark to a manufacturer, franchisee, distributor, or collaborator, we set the scope of the grant, quality standards and approval rights, royalty and reporting terms, and termination provisions. In acquisitions and financings, we review chain of title, recorded assignments, and any license or coexistence obligations that travel with the marks. We also advise on assigning intent-to-use applications, which Section 10 of the Lanham Act restricts before use begins, and on recording transfers with the USPTO so the public record matches the deal.

How A Trademark Engagement Runs

A registration engagement starts with a short intake: the mark, the goods and services, where you sell, and when you started or plan to start. We search federal and state registers, common-law use, and domain names, then deliver a written clearance report with a recommendation. If you proceed, we prepare and file the application, docket every deadline, and respond to office actions. USPTO examination currently takes many months, so a straightforward application often needs a year or more to register. Dispute engagements start with an assessment of the conflict and a recommended response, whether a letter, a TTAB filing, or suit. Licensing and coexistence work starts with a term sheet or the counterparty's draft, and we return redlines and an issues list quickly so the deal keeps moving.

Brands In Technology And Commerce

Trademark problems increasingly arise online and in software: app store listings, marketplace counterfeits, keyword advertising, social media handles, domain names, and product names for SaaS and AI tools that collide with established marks. Our understanding of how platforms, search, and digital marketing work helps us find infringers, preserve evidence, and use platform takedown and UDRP procedures before litigation. Brand disputes also tend to sit inside larger business conflicts, such as a terminated distributor that keeps selling, a former partner who claims the name, or a licensee that stops paying. We serve consumer products, fashion and apparel, food and beverage, retail and e-commerce, software, entertainment, and sports businesses, from startups choosing a first name to established companies managing marks in several countries.

Flat Fees, Estimates, And Timing

Clearance searches, applications, and routine filings are the kind of standardized work we offer as flat-fee products, with a fixed price, a stated scope, and a set turnaround. Office action responses, TTAB proceedings, enforcement campaigns, and federal litigation vary more, so we scope them and give you a written estimate before starting. Call us before you print packaging, launch a site, or announce a new name, because clearance is cheapest before the investment. Call us when you receive a USPTO refusal, since the response period is short, and when an opposition notice or cease and desist letter arrives. If you find a mark or a counterfeit that copies yours, call early: unexplained delay can weaken a request for a preliminary injunction.

Frequently asked questions

For a straightforward U.S. application, expect a year or more from filing to registration, depending on USPTO examination backlogs, whether an office action issues, and whether anyone opposes. Intent-to-use applications take longer because you must file a Statement of Use once the mark is in use. We docket every deadline and keep you informed at each stage.

We strongly recommend one. The USPTO will refuse an application that is likely to cause confusion with a registered mark, and an unregistered prior user may still hold common-law rights that could stop you in court. A search costs far less than a rebrand after you have printed packaging, built a site, and spent money on marketing.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is an administrative tribunal inside the USPTO that decides whether a mark can be registered or should stay registered. It cannot award damages or order anyone to stop using a mark. A federal court can grant injunctions, damages, and in exceptional cases attorneys' fees. TTAB proceedings are usually less expensive and run on a written record.

It is a contract between two owners of similar marks that defines how each will use and register its mark to avoid confusion, for example by limiting products, channels, territories, or presentation. The USPTO and the courts give weight to these agreements, especially detailed ones. They often resolve oppositions and infringement disputes without litigation.

Yes, but the license must include quality control. If you let others use your mark without controlling the nature and quality of their goods or services, a court can find a naked license and treat the mark as abandoned. We draft licenses with workable standards, approval rights, and inspection provisions along with the royalty and termination terms.

Between the fifth and sixth years after registration you must file a Section 8 declaration of continued use, and every ten years a combined Section 8 and Section 9 renewal. After five years of continuous use you may also file a Section 15 declaration of incontestability. Missing a deadline cancels the registration, so we docket these dates for clients.

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Flat-fee services for Trademarks

Defined work at a fixed price, with the scope, turnaround, and fee stated up front.

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