so you want to trademark a brand first
off i think it's a great idea if you're
an e-commerce seller especially an
amazon seller to go ahead and to brand
your products because it really allows
you to differentiate yourself from your
competition and in addition it's going
to protect your phrase or your brand
that you're going to be trademarking
here so today i'm going to share with
you guys step by step how i actually go
through the application you do not need
a lawyer however it is recommended by
the united states patent and trademark
office
but for me and you know just being an
individual seller third-party merchant
on amazon it's sometimes best to go
ahead and do this yourself because
honestly it's fairly easy to do so so
today i'm going to take you step by step
on some things that we need to do before
we start our application then we'll get
into the application for a golf brand
that i'm trademarking and we'll finish
it up so you know what to do next okay
so the first thing that you have to do
before you even get into your trademark
application is to understand what your
brand is and what are you trademarking
for us today we are going to be
trademarking the brand of vibrae golf
it's italian for to live golf it's a
brand i'm going to be using for some
training aids
coming up here in q4 during the holiday
season so there's a link in the
description and this is going to be our
trademark like sorry trademark
electronic search system we're going to
search for that trademark brand and
you're going to be searching on your
behalf for your trademark brand to see
if someone is actively using it if
someone is actively using your trademark
you cannot use that so you'll have to
find a new brand name so the first thing
that we're going to do is we're going to
go to this section where it says select
a search option and we're going to click
this first one where it says new user
once you click that there's one thing to
do on the left here and we're going to
type in our trademark brand
i usually filter this down to just the
live trademarks i really don't care
about the dead trademarks that aren't
active uh and then i'll go down to
search term here so again ours was
vivare golf with the space between them
type in your trademark here
after you do that click submit query and
you're either gonna be brought to a
screen where it says there are no
records found which is great so that
means that i can use and trademark this
brand name as is
now let's go through an example where we
do find so i'll just type in vibrae live
trademarks
and as you can see there are a lot of
live trademarks just with the vivre name
in them or by itself so if you come
across here and you see a lot of
trademarks that have the existing brand
name that you want to use odds are that
you cannot use that i mean you could go
into each one of these and see what
class they are trademarked under but
it's really going to take a lawyer to
come in here and fully understand if you
can or cannot do it my word of advice is
if you have all of these listed here for
your trademark name that you want to use
go ahead find something different it
isn't the end of the world so for us
when we searched it for vibrate golf it
was not located on here so that's
assurance that i can go ahead proceed
with my application and i can make sure
that it gets submitted and approved
next we uh we need to go and figure out
if we're going to be doing a logo for
our trademark or if we're just going to
do basic text so i want to do a logo
that has this cursive like text it's uh
dr defoe text so i'll be doing a logo
for this demonstration for you if you
really don't care if it's um you know
the design of the trademark itself you
can just do a basic formatted text and
uh you don't have to go through this
entire process however if you do want to
do a logo make sure you use some type of
software to create it like this and then
you're going to want to save it as a
jpeg file i'm using canva.com great free
online software that you can use
you can go ahead and create free logos
such as this simple one right here
make sure that you save it in a jpeg
format because that's the only format
that they will accept and then you want
to make sure that your file size is
under i believe it's 944 pixels on
either side as you can see this is a
thousand by thousand it's too large so
we need to reduce that down to
uh 500 by 500 i think the minimum is 250
by 250. so just make sure you're within
that and turn the quality up and then i
will save this
and download it to my downloads folder
alright so that's step two we're almost
there to the application step three in
the final step before we can actually
get into the application and please do
these steps because it's going to save
you time
the last thing you want to do is submit
an application and it gets denied
by the government because you didn't
follow some of these steps or you didn't
do your due diligence that you need to
next we are going to be searching the
trademark id manual so this manual is an
assortment of all these classes that are
filed and services on behalf of people
like us and companies now we need to
search this because in order to decide
if we're going to go with the teas plus
or the t's standard application two
different applications
we need to make sure that there is a
class that's out there that relates to
our products if there isn't a class that
relates to our product we're going to go
with the more expensive option which is
the teas standard and it's about 350
dollars per class or service so let's
say that you have a brand where you are
selling wallets you go ahead you fill
out this application you get your
trademark for that specific class now
that does not mean that you can go and
use your brand name to sell stereo
equipment or lights because that
trademark is only eligible in that class
or service so that's one thing to keep
in mind is that you're only trademarking
within a specific
narrow niche per se
and that's one thing you have to keep in
mind when you're going about this
so in here what you want to type in is
what your product is so for us it's
going to be a golf
training aid i'm just going to take golf
training to see what we have
so you can see a bunch of different
classes come up i do not pay attention
to the ones that are strikethroughed and
then just focus on the ones that relate
to your product so we're going through
these uh it's a golf training cage that
would not relate to my
putting device that i'm creating the
next one golf practice platforms
it's a golf apparatus that would work
for what i'm doing and but i'm going to
take a look at the rest of them just to
make sure
this third one down here a motorized
golf tripping practice aide nope mine's
not motorized and it's not a brace that
will be worn on the hand so if you're if
you type this in and you can try a
couple different searches maybe golf aid
next
but if you find one that's good news you
don't really remember this yet because
you will search this later on the
application but if you search this and
you couldn't find anything or anything
that related to your product you're
going to have to go through the teas
standard application
all right so at this point we've
completed all the due diligence steps
that we need to
we ensured that our trademark is not
actively listed we created our logo if
we wanted to and then lastly we found a
class and a description that fits what
we're trying to brand here next go down
to the links in the description and go
to the actual application link so now
we're gonna actually get started with
the teas and teas i application
first you need to go to this green
button here where it says set up your
uspto.gov account if you don't already
have one so we'll click that and i
should already be logged in
now after you've actually created your
account it's very simple just type in
personal information
and then once you create your account
you have to verify your email address
and then you'll be brought to this
dashboard it's very easy what to do next
all you have to do is go to this file
and application and click file a teas
application
now this is the actual application and
we're gonna go step by step through it
with that golf brand that i'm looking to
trademark now you don't have to read all
this text because you're just gonna
follow the video and i've already done
it for you
so the first question is please select
one of the filing options
you've heard me say teas plus and key
standard remember if you're doing a teas
plus
that means you were able to find a class
and description that fits what you're
trying to brand and what you're trying
to sell for us that's what we'll do
however you're going to do t standard if
you couldn't find something that relates
to your actual trademark and do not try
to bend the rules here a lawyer is going
to look over your application and if
they see that there isn't an actual
class and goods that's already existing
in the id manual they're going to reject
your application and tell you to file t
standard anyways so it's not an
opportunity to save money it's really
just the luck of the draw for you okay
the second question is an attorney
filing this application no i am not an
attorney and you're going to notice here
saying we recommend you review these
basics before completing your
application does not say that you can't
do this because you're not an attorney
save some money and you can do this by
yourself
this is an optional third one here we do
not have to actually go ahead and
complete this
next click continue and this is where
you're going to describe your ownership
and who the applicant is now i am just
the single person that is filing this
application say you have a partnership
with a couple different members for your
business you want to include everyone on
here that needs to be and you're going
to be able to do that at the bottom you
can add multiple owners so for the owner
of the mark i'm going to type in my name
here so we'll say do in the format of
last name comma first name middle
initial so i'm going to type my name in
if you're doing business as in another
business such as llc as i will be i will
type in that business here
and then down to the left here i'm going
to select the entity type for my
business
for me it's a limited liability company
and then you have to select the state
that your
business is legally filed under
okay next we'll skip down here to your
mailing address keep in mind this is
going to be public it's going to be
viewable by anyone looking through this
database so if you do not want your
address being publicly viewed i would go
ahead and get a po box just to protect
that so you're not receiving spam mail
or having anyone creepy show up your
house so type in your address here okay
then we'll leave this checked phone
number you don't have to put anything in
here fax number you don't either and
then just put in your email address
all right so at this point once you have
all your required information in here
you can go ahead and click continue if
you do have more than one owner click
add owner and that will add this first
person and then you can add the second
third and so forth once you've added all
of the owners click continue now since
we did not put in a telephone number
you're gonna get a warning message it's
only a warning it's not a requirement so
if you want to go back and add your
telephone number so an examining
attorney or someone can contact you you
can do so i'm just going to click
continue i don't like to have my number
out there
just for the sake of that
okay and the next step is our actual
trademark where we're going to upload
our logo or we're just going to type in
our standard character text if you do
not have a logo so the question you're
going to answer down here it says select
a radio button to indicate a mark type
standard characters again that's just
like plain text so this would be my
trademark if i were to do plain text
that's all it would be right there's no
design to it i'm going to do a special
form which is stylized or design or
better known as a logo
so now we're gonna actually upload our
trademark our logo that we saved
beforehand again they say to save it in
a jpeg image file it's the only
acceptable format some other things if
you're gonna trademark colors make sure
you upload the color format otherwise
black and white is fine for us we just
have black text so we really have to
worry about the colors and all you do
now is go to choose file
and click the one i'll make sure you
click the right one here it's this top
one so you click that and make sure you
click attach because that's something i
did first couple times i tried doing
this you get to the end and you never
clicked attached so this actually
attaches it to your application at that
point you should see your trademark
brand your logo right here just ensure
that it looks correct it's going to be a
little bit distorted because it's very
small there
but that's that's it there
now at this point you need to type in
your literal element which is down below
here type in exactly what your trademark
says
uh you have to do this just in case you
know the examining lawyer they try to
examine this and they couldn't tell if
this was a w or a v or the g was you
know something else or if there wasn't a
space
so just type in the text if there is
text for your logo and put that there
okay and moving down here if you're
claiming any colors as a part of this
logo then you have to make sure you
enter them here this only applies if you
have colors that are not black and white
so for us we're going to down below here
it says check this box if you're not
claiming a color this is really only for
black and white images now what you
would do here is say this was a a red v
and a blue g we want to indicate that
here so we'd put
red and blue
so we'll make sure that both of those
colors are actually a feature a color
feature of our trademark but since we're
just doing black and white we'll leave
those out of there
next we have to add some more
descriptive elements to our trademark to
describe what is going on
now if you have something that's very
complicated or an actual logo without
text you want to indicate all the
different colors and the unique aspects
of that logo so for down here here's a
good example
if we had some logo with a bird with
different colors on it we type in a bird
with a red body blue wings and yellow
beak if that described our trademark
logo
make sure that you
start this field without an uppercase
letter keep it all lowercase format and
do not start out with like a full
sentence like you would this mark
consists of or this trademark resembles
this
just type in exactly what it is
beaver a golf
all black
i'll just put color
okay so that describes it there after
that you can click continue
and it will be you'll be taken to the
next screen which is actually adding
your trademark to a specific goods or
services now this is going to look very
similar once we click this add goods
services it's going to take us to the id
manual search it looks a little
different than what we did here but it's
going to be the same thing so i'm going
to type in the same thing i typed before
golf training
click go
again we found all the different
descriptions and classes of good
international classes here that relate
to this golf training search term as you
remember before if we jump back
this was the one that i want to
trademark it under it's a golf training
apparatus golf practice platforms
so we'll head back to the application
here
then you'll select the class gulf
training apparatus namely golf practice
platforms
for this tutorial we are just going to
be doing this single class so we'll
click insert checked entries and down at
the bottom here you're going to see the
classes that you are registering your
trademark under
the last thing to do on this page is to
assign a filing basis
for this international class
which is going to be shown down here so
you're going to claim is it section 1a
1b 44d 44e and it's very convenient
because i'm glad they put these under
here so you can better understand what
this actually means so if you're
actually using your mark in commerce
currently right now which believe it or
not you are allowed to do if you just
put the tm on it
you can do that if it's not actively
used you're gonna click 1a because
you're using it in commerce right now
for this brand i'm not using it i'm not
selling any products under it right now
so i'm going to do 1b which says no use
of mark yet but you're intending to use
the other two here they're for foreign
applicants um it's very it's the same
thing as x1 a1b but it's for foreign
applicants
so for us we are not using the marquette
in commerce so we're gonna do section 1b
now it's going to ask us to
understand this and click i understand
and click assign filing basis
and at this point just verify that when
you click there the section 1b pops up
next to that class of goods
if you had multiple you could just
select the ones that you want to file
under and say you are using the golf
apparel actively right now in commerce
then you want to select that class and
click 1a
all right simple as that we'll click
continue
and then we brought to this next page
which is your correspondence information
you don't you shouldn't have to do
anything at this page just verify that
your name is correct and also your email
there for the primary email address
click continue
so now is the part that we all hate
because you actually go ahead and pay
for this to be filed and then also sign
off your name for this trademark brand
again it's going to be 250
per class if you do the teas plus it's
going to be 350
if you do the t standard per class just
something to keep in mind you're going
to pay some money but if you do have a
business you can write this off your
taxes as it is tax deductible
so confirm that that's correct and you
don't have maybe two or three classes
and you only wanted one so we're only
doing one the the amount is correct it's
250 per and we're going to sign directly
you can hand write it and mail
everything in or you can just do it
directly on here electronically
so you'll have to go through all this
you'll have to read the following
statements i've already done this before
and select all of them next we'll come
down here to actually sign the
application
make sure you pay attention to this
because it's very weird whenever you do
the signature it's requiring you to put
two forward slashes between your name in
all lowercase to put a forward slash
type in your name and then close it with
another forward slash
um i guess because it's alphanumeric i i
honestly have no idea what you have to
do that but it's just something that
they require
for the the names down here you do not
have to do that you can just type in
your name as is and then for the
position i am the owner of my company so
i'll put owner in if you have a formal
role for your company that you work in
make sure you put that there or you can
just type in individual
for date sign just click it it will auto
populate make sure that's the correct
date and then go down to the bottom here
if you have more than one owner that
needs to sign click the ad right here
you can add them just like we did to add
owner before
if not if it's just yourself like we're
doing here click validate
okay and once we've done that we are
basically completed with the application
we've completed all the mandatory fields
uh the uspto website is just gonna ask
us to go ahead and to review everything
to make sure that's correct do not be
lazy make sure that you review
everything because this is your one shot
of branding this and you don't want to
waste any money trust me so again go
down through all these steps go through
over all the data just to confirm that
your name's right the trademarks looks
correct the logo is correct um there's
descriptions there all of the above
check everything and once you do you can
go ahead and you can go through all
these checks
you can check this right here it just
goes over the payment information and go
down step five where it says if you're
ready to file electronically click on
pay and submit so this is the final step
once you click pay and submit you'll be
brought to the screen where you'll input
your credit card information or whatever
you're using to actually uh purchase
this filing all right guys thank you for
watching i hope this gives you more
insight on what to do when filing your
trademarked application it can seem very
daunting especially with all the little
nuances like the signature there at the
end but you do not need an attorney
if you do want to go ahead and get an
attorney i do recommend doing the amazon
ip accelerator program it's a little
more expensive but it'll make sure that
way you make sure you get it done
correctly the first time
