- Hi everyone.
I'm attorney Aiden Durham
with 180 Law Co. in Denver, Colorado,
and you're watching
All Up in Yo' Business.
(upbeat orchestral music)
In this episode of All Up in Yo' Business,
I'm going to answer the age old question,
do I need to include fill in the blank
in my trademark,
but first don't forget to like,
subscribe and share and turn on that little bell hit
that little bell button
so you guys get notifications.
Anytime I post a new video
and you know smash that like button,
share it all your friends,
do all the other things that us Youtubers tell you to do.
And don't forget to check the description for links
to additional information and resources,
such as My Free Guide three tips
for trademarking your brand.
Alright, so a big question that I get a lot
is do I need to Include LLC in my trademark.
If you have your company formed as an LLC,
pretty much every state, I believe has a requirement
that your name needs to include some indication
that it's an LLC.
So typically we'll have business name, LLC,
or business name limited
or limited liability company.
So for most of us,
probably all of us are registered LLC name
includes LLC at the end of it,
or if we're talking corporations,
it will include Inc.
or incorporated or something like that.
So some other entity designator typically has to be
in the actual legal registered name
of the business.
So if you're looking to register a trademark
for your business's name,
do you include LLC or Inc. in the trademark?
Well, the problem here is with the question.
Do I need to include LLC in my trademark?
This question is flawed from the jump,
from the very beginning.
It's not, do I need to include this in my trademark?
What the question really is or should be is,
what is my trademark?
If you're looking to register a trademark
with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
in the U.S.
if you want a Federally Registered Trademark,
you have to indicate on the trademark application,
what the trademark is.
And if we're dealing with just kind
of a standard character, Mark,
standard word Mark,
like we would for a business name,
we would put the name on the application,
but that doesn't mean
that's what our business name is.
We don't have to trademark our registered business name.
We don't have to trademark anything.
But just because you have a business name like okay,
I'm just gonna use mine 180 Law Co. LLC.
Just because that's my business name
doesn't mean that has to be my trademark,
because it's not.
I don't go around saying 180 Law Co. LLC,
I call it 180 Law Co.
and that's what my trademark is registered
because that's what I'm using
because that's what the trademark is.
So going back to the original question,
do I need to include LLC in my trademark?
Yes, if that's what your trademark is going to be.
If your trademark is going to include LLC in it,
then yes, you need to include LLC in your trademark.
But if you're gonna be,
if your marketing and promotional materials,
if your website or if the things
that you're gonna be using your trademark on,
don't include LLC on them,
then don't include LLC in the trademark.
You can have again using me as an example,
my registered business name is 180 Law Co. LLC,
but when you go to my website,
or when you read the biggest most of the description
in my youtube videos
or when you see my business card,
it just says 180 Law Co. for the most part,
there's some 180 Law Co. LLC in a few spots
but for the most part, my trademark is 180 Law Co.
I decided that I didn't want to include LLC in it
and there's no requirement that your trademark
include LLC if you don't want it to.
Now if I did, for whatever reason
want to actually go buy 180 Law Co. LLC
if my logo said 180 Law Co. LLC
or if wherever I put my business name
if I always included LLC,
then I would want to include LLC in my trademark
because that's what the trademark is.
And the same goes for any other, entity designators.
You don't have to include Inc.
in the trademark if you don't want it
to be a Part of the trademark
or any other real portions,
your trademark can be
whatever you want your trademark to be.
That's ultimately my point here is
that if you don't want it to include LLC
or Corp or whatever other element of it,
then it doesn't have to.
An important thing to remember though,
or rather to keep in mind,
in probably all circumstances,
these designations like LLC or Inc. or Corp,
or whatever else,
they're not really going to be taken into account
when the USPTO when the examining attorney
is evaluating the trademark.
So let's say again,
just using me as an example,
let's say I'm trying
to file a trademark registration for 180 Law Co. LLC.
If I see that there's already
a registered trademark for 180 Law Co.
me adding LLC isn't really
gonna help me at all in getting around
that conflicting or other similar trademark,
that LLC portion of it isn't just considered distinctive.
It's just kind of describing
the structure of your business.
So that element of the trademark
typically isn't going to be sufficient
to differentiate your mark from another one
which might be identical or very similar to it.
So that's an important thing to keep in mind
is that, including that isn't gonna be a big factor
in whether or not your trademark gets registered ultimately,
but it is important to think about
how you're actually going to use your trademark.
What the trademarks actually going to look like
when you're using it.
So I suppose ultimately,
when we boil it down,
the answer to the question,
should I include fill in the blank in my trademark?
The answer is,
do you want to include it in your trademark?
Do you want it to be a part of the trademark.
If no, then no, don't include it.
If yes, then yeah, include it.
Just make sure whatever the trademark is,
when you're filing the application
accurately reflects the trademark
as you're going to be using it.
Just because your business name says
something doesn't mean the trademark needs
to say that same thing.
It's also if you think further of it,
the trademark really has nothing to do
with the business's name at all.
You can file trademarks for things that
aren't your business name.
I have a registered trademark
for All Up in Yo' Business.
I don't have a separate entity.
I don't have a separate LLC
for all up in your business.
It's all under my law firms business,
but that's a registered trademark that I have.
So again, if you think about it that way,
you don't even have to file a trademark application
for your business name.
You don't need a business name
to file a trademark application.
So again, the point is what you want
to have your trademark include.
If you want it to include LLC or Inc.
or Corp or whatever the heck else,
then you can include it.
If you don't want it to then you don't have to.
I'm gonna take this question one little step further
because it's really closely related
when we're talking about logos.
So another similar question is,
do I need to include LLC in my logo?
If your business is an LLC, or if it's Corporation, Inc.
do I need to include that in my logo?
For the most part, no.
Again, it's up to you up to what you want to do.
But typically, no,
you don't need to have your logo,
say, company name, LLC
or company name, Inc.
For branding purposes, that isn't always beneficial.
Sometimes your logo just looks better
without the LLC in it
or what for whatever reason,
if you don't want LLC, included in your logo,
then you don't have to.
And if you want to register the trademark for that logo,
then your trademark would be
whatever is included in the logo.
For the most part, your branding and your marketing
and your public facing stuff doesn't need
to include LLC or Inc.
or any other entity designation.
There are situations like when you're signing contracts
or in binding agreements
where you do want those designations included.
But with when we're talking solely about just kind
of marketing and promotional materials or your website
or social media pages,
you don't have to include that LLC or Inc.
or whatever else in the name.
And so, this is related with the trademarks.
You don't have to include those
in your trademark registrations either.
And finally, again,
it's important to remember this distinction
between a business name and a trademark.
They're not the same thing.
They can be the same thing
but at their core,
at the soul of them,
they're not the same.
Your business name can be completely different
from your trademark.
If you operate your business under a different name,
or if you have a trade name or a DBA
that can be what the trademark is.
But ultimately, your business name really
has little to no effect on what your trademark
or what you want your trademark to be.
That's all for this episode, folks.
Drop a comment below.
Let me know what you think.
And again, don't forget to check the description for links
to additional information and resources
such as my three tips for trademarking your brand,
my free downloadable guide and if you are interested
in registering a trademark for your business
or if you need help with getting a registered trademark,
feel free to contact me, my contact info
is in the description as well
and you can check out details
about my all inclusive trademark registration package
called Brand Bombshell, or my online DIY course
called Brandish DIY your Trademark Application
where I teach you step by step how
to prepare for complete and submit a trademark application
without a lawyer.
Thank you all so very much for watching.
I'm Aiden Durham, and I'll see you next time.
(soft music)