- Hi, everybody!
I'm attorney Aiden Kramer,
with The Law Office of Aiden Kramer in Colorado,
and your watching All Up In Your Business.
What I'm gonna do in this episode and a few of the next ones
is dive into some details about trademarks.
There are a lot of concepts
and a lot of particulars
when it comes to getting a trademark that most people,
unless you're an attorney who deals with trademarks,
you're not familiar with.
But there are important things to know
if you're considering getting a trademark
or if you're in the process of getting a trademark.
These things are things
that you're probably going to deal with at some point.
So in this first episode
I'm gonna talk about some of the things
that you can't trademark.
And when I say can't,
there are some caveats to that.
But in general these are some of the things
that are more difficult,
or that you can't trademark.
The first thing that you can't trademark
is something that is primarily a surname.
So if you wanna get a trademark for your business's name,
if the name is mostly your personal name,
you're gonna have a harder time getting that trademarked.
Let's use my business, for example,
The Law Office of Aiden Kramer.
There are a few problems with this,
the first one being that it's Aiden Kramer,
The Law Office of Aiden Kramer.
The Trademark Office doesn't like to trademark things
that are primarily somebody's name,
so I would have a hard time getting a trademark
over my business's name,
because it's mostly just my name.
The next thing that you can't trademark
is something that is overly descriptive or suggestive.
And this means something
that describes the goods or services
that your business provides.
So let's look at mine again,
The Law Office of Aiden Kramer.
The other reason I can't get that trademarked
is because it says The Law Office of Aiden Kramer.
That let's you know that I'm a law office,
I provide legal services.
The trademark itself, The Law Office of Aiden Kramer,
is far too descriptive to get a trademark,
because it's just describing what I do
and the services that I offer.
The next type of thing that is difficult to get trademarked
is one that is primarily geographic.
So if your business's name
has some indication of where you're located,
let's say my business was Colorado Legal Services,
I wouldn't be able to get that trademarked
because the Colorado is just describing where I'm located,
or where I serve people.
And then, of course, going back to the descriptive part,
Legal Services, I wouldn't be able to get that trademarked,
because all I'm doing is telling you where I am
and what I do,
and the Trademark Office frowns upon
those kinds of trademarks.
And then, finally, a trademark that is primarily ornamental
is difficult to get trademarked as well.
I talk to a lot of you who are clothing designers,
which is great,
I had no idea there were so many clothing designers
and people who wanted to start clothing lines out there,
but there're a lot of you.
And part of the problem that I see
when I'm working with these people
who wanna start clothing lines
is that the wanna trademark a logo or an image
that they're going to use just on tee-shirts,
or just on their apparel.
The logo is only going to be used on their apparel,
and that is considered ornamental.
So if you have a phrase or an image
that you want to put onto clothing,
or onto a product,
and that's it's primary use,
is being on that product,
then that might be considered ornamental
and you might have a hard time getting that trademarked.
So I said that these can't be trademarked,
but that there are a few caveats to that.
That is true.
There are a few ways to get around
some of these restrictions
of what you can and cannot trademark.
And you're gonna have to stay tuned
for the next couple of episodes
to find out how you can get around those restrictions.
When it comes to trademarks,
there is so much more to it
than most people are aware of.
And because of that,
it's always a good idea to work with an attorney
if you're trying to get a trademark,
or if you're interested in getting a trademark,
because an attorney will let you know
if you even can trademark whatever it is
you're trying to get trademarked.
If you would like any assistance getting a trademark,
or are interested in getting a trademark,
please feel free to contact me.
My phone number and email are below.
Be sure to subscribe to my channel
so you don't miss those next episodes
with all the answers to the questions that I posed.
Thank you all so much for watching.
I'm Aiden Kramer,
and I'll see you next time.