Trademarks
I was reading the ID3 podcast magazine with an article about Trademarks (Trademark Law Can Protect Your Podcast’s Name). Although there are some laws protecting the name of your podcast without having to register anywhere, they suggest that you do so with the United States Patent and Trademark office (USPTO).
I was curiouse and had a look. I found a page to help me get started with trademarks. I soon found the link to forms to file for trademarks. A few moments later, I found exactly what I was looking for. I found the trademark filing fees were $325 US to file electronically ($375 by paper). On top of that, you need to file an Alligation of Use form ($100) if someone else uses your mark.
Of course, there are a ton of services that help you file trademarks to make it easier for you. One of them that I had seen charged $159 in addition to the application fee and includes a trademark search. They also claim that a lawyer would charge $1,285.
Why is this trademark office so money hungry? Perhaps if there was a fee of $25 dollars, I would file with the name of my podcast as a trademark. How involved is it, really? Someone clicks a button that says “Approved”. Where is the value of $325 going? What does that itemized list of services that they actually provide look like?
Back in the day when I went to school, we had been told that the simplest way to make a case for your trademark was to put it in an envelope and mail it to yourself. The reason behind this is that the United States Postal Service (USPS) would mark it with the place and date that it was received in the system.
When you receive the letter - don’t open it. It gets filed with your important papers and to be opened in court if the need arrises. This helps prove your case that you were using the trademark earlier then someone else and the federal government was used to prove the date. The main rule for trademark laws is that you need to be the first to use it. I think if you can prove that you used the mark earlier then someone else who is using it (even if they registered it), then you win. I could be wrong there.
I guess you could call that system “the poor mans trademark protection”. However, I don’t think you can use the ® symbol after your trademark since it isn’t registered with the USPTO. I wonder if it would be cheaper to register with other governments just so that you could use the ® symbol.
From what I have seen on the internet, you can still use the ™ or SM Symbols as long as you are claiming to have rights to the mark. It is possible that people do this even when those rights may not be valid.
Note: This is not legal advice.