Many entrepreneurs invest heavily in branding but never verify whether their business name, logo, or creative assets are legally protected. Skipping trademark and copyright checks can lead to cease-and-desist letters, forced rebranding, and expensive legal consequences.
Why Trademark and Copyright Checks Should Happen Before You Build Your Brand
Branding is not just a marketing decision. It can also create legal and operational risk if the name, logo, images, or other assets connected to your business are already protected by someone else. Before you invest more time, money, and momentum into building visibility, it is worth understanding where trademark and copyright issues can create expensive problems.
So what?
This is an important post for those who never researched if their company name and logo are protected for exclusive use by another entity. If that’s you, then this is an important post. Ignoring it may result in an expensive wake up call. That means a call to a trademark attorney for legal advice and to Tripod Coaching & Consulting™ to figure out how to navigate what happens next.
Key Takeaways
- Many small businesses create branding first and ask legal questions later, which can be a costly mistake.
- A trademark can help protect brand identifiers like a business name, logo, slogan, or tag line.
- A copyright can help protect original creative works.
- Using protected names, logos, or images without permission can result in legal action, rebranding costs, and lost momentum.
- Seeing other businesses do it online does not mean it is allowed.
- It is smarter and less expensive to address these issues early than after your business has gained traction.
- An experienced trademark or copyright attorney should be part of your next step if you think your business may be exposed.
Ok, so what do I need?
It depends.
- a trademark is the way to up-level and secure your brand with trademarks.
- a copyright is how you protect and monetize your valuable original creations
[Source: Smolyar Law website]
Your situation may have additional factors to consider… meaning you may need a trademark, or a copyright, or both.
Whatever! Why is this even important?
Because you don’t want to start gaining traction for your business only to find out that what you’ve been using is copyrighted or trademarked. You may get a cease and desist letter, or you may be sued. Either way it means that all of your hard work may be for nothing and you’ll effectively have to start over from scratch. Let’s not forget the added costs you’ll have to deal with.
I sell products on social media and never have had a problem
We’ve lost count on the number of times that we’ve heard this. We also see companies on social media platforms who are clearly using protected images and names.
So, here’s a heads up and some free advice for creative businesses who use social media platforms to display your products/creations and generate sales, or use a protected info as part of your business name.
- You may need to rename and rebrand your company. This is something for an experienced attorney to weigh in on. Yep, it’ll be a pain in the tush, but it’s better to be pro-active than under a deadline that you can’t meet or have monetary repercussions associated with it.
- Do not use copyrighted images on the things you create, i.e., mugs, hats, shoes, t-shirts, planner stickers, etc. [We didn’t need an attorney for this one. We tell companies and clients this all the time.]
# 2 = Full stop!
Don’t think that because “other people are doing it” means that you can. They may have a licensing agreement that allows them to use the name and/or images.
And don’t think that because you’re a small business that attorneys representing the companies who own the copyrights and trademarks aren’t paying attention to you. They are and the legal action that they take may be as simple a letter or it may be expensive. Why put yourself in that situation?
What you should do instead is work with artists who create original designs. Execute a legal document that allows you to use the designs and also provides compensation to the artist. It’s a win-win collaboration!
How do I get started?
First thing you need to do is contact a reputable attorney with expertise in this field. This is probably not your business attorney. They may say they can handle this, but it is a field that requires a lot of experience and expertise. This process needs specific knowledge of how to prepare the application, what several activities need to happen while the application is in process, how to answer questions from the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), and how to submit responses received from the USPTO – particularly if the application is denied. Get it wrong and you’re done.
Need help with next steps or have questions about this topic?
We find that this area is a big point of legal exposure. If you don’t have the background and know what needs to be done to protect your company and ensure that you’re not doing something that could result in legal action, it’s best to get outside support.
We recommend working with an experienced attorney who can help you navigate this process. If you don’t have a copyright/trademark attorney, or have one who may not be the best fit, reach out via the contact page and we can set up a call to talk and to introduce you to our trusted partner. We’re also happy to answer questions about this post.
Tripod’s expertise is business operations. We focus on the interface between the revenue and non-revenue generating sides of your biz, create policies and procedures for all company departments and divisions, and excel at planning for the “what if”™. A strong foundation = a solid company!
