Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

Re: trademarking

While it can be as easy as you describe if you're lucky, in general a comprehensive search should first be performed, and then if that is interpreted by a trademark attorney as allowing a go-ahed with filing for federal trademark registration, that attorney will consult with you on the various bases for filing, the goods/services categories to employ, and will determine the best positioning of the application to gain registration. The process can take a year start to finish, and with an attorney's assistance is generally $1000 and up.

Re: trademarking

Federal trademarks can be registered online at www.uspto.gov. The basic fee for electronic filing online is $325 per international class. Other fees may apply.

David K. Staub, Illinois business attorney

Re: trademarking

The simple answer is that it depends. You need to perform a clearance search before you select a final name for you record label etc. The cost for this varies up to about 2000.00 for the search and interpretation of the search. After this with a sucessful search, you can file with the USPTO electronically, either you or an attorney can do this and answer the office actions if necessary from the USPTO. Finally, the new mark is published to see if there is any objection to the mark, and if not then you are sucessful in obtaining your trademark.

Bottom line is that it is usually better for an attorney to do this for you and depending on the complexity it can cost 6000.00 or more to obtain a trademark.

Good luck!