Trademark vs Copyright

[flanagan0718]

Been building and modding for a year or so under a certain name. What should i do to keep the name? Do i trade mark it or copyright it? Do you guys do anything with your company name? Kinda new to this stuff. Thanks for the help guys, you rock! Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!

[pickdropper]

If you want to protect your company's name, you'll want to incorporate.  There are many guidelines online on how to do it.  If you are unfamiliar, the best way is probably to hire a lawyer to file it for you.  It is possible to do it yourself.  Depending on where you are filing, the cost of incorporation (and rules of it) may differ.

[flanagan0718]

Yikes! That seems expensive. It's not really a company. I joke around and call it a "non profit organization". Not looking to make $bank$ but just get paid for parts and a little labor. Do i just trade mark the name?

[culturejam]

Last time I checked, incorporating was a lot cheaper than registering a trademark.

For cheap incorporation, check out the LLC option from Legal Zoom. There are also several other web sites that have similar services. But keep in mind that if you go with either a traditional corporation or LLC, you will have to deal with that during tax time. Consider if the extra hassle is worth it.

On the other hand, you can use the common law trademark symbol ™ next to your company name. It's not nearly as powerful as a federally registered trademark ®, but it's also free and requires no paperwork. Just start using it on all references to your company name. Believe it or not, Zvex actaully just uses the ™. If it's good enough for his business, I assume it will be good enough for the rest of us.

Legal Zoom also has registered trademark services, but I honestly think it's overkill for a part-time pedal company.

[flanagan0718]

culturejam this is very helpful! I'll start that up now. If it works for ZVex then it works for me! Thanks again!

[culturejam]

Just make sure you read a couple articles on common law trademark so that you understand the limitations of it.

[flanagan0718]

doing that now