How do I own my business name?

[BroncosMom]

What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

I've named my business Bring Home The Passion and I'm trying to keep other people from using the slogan, how can I make this mine where nobody else can use it or any other form of it like bringhomethepassions or bringinghomethepassion etc??

Julie

 

[lizjimbo]

Incorporate

State coporation commissions do not allow same names for different corporations. You can also check with a patent/trademark lawyer.

 

[JETX]

how can I make this mine where nobody else can use it or any other form of it

Start by putting aside about $100k or so... to assert your legal 'right' in the USA. If you want to try to protect your 'name' internationally, make it about $500k.

In other words... unless you want to register your name and or trademark in EVERY state and or county, you can't.

 

[TomD1974]

If you don't know anything at all about this, consult a trademark attorney. Normally you would do a comprehensive search, with the help of your lawyer to determine class(es) etc, and then you'll want help interpreting the results.

Before you even spend that money, Google various forms of it (to see if someone has a biz by that name), do searches on possible domain names, and do a quick and dirty search on www.uspto.gov.

Doing the comprehensive search and getting the trademark will probably cost about $1,500 to $3,000.

Keep in mind that doing this means little - you have to continually protect the mark for it to have power. You have to be willing to spend money to do that. I don't know what your "master plan" is for your business but you might consider skipping all the grandiose legal maneuverings and just getting going. You can't file until you have used the mark in commerce anyway, and prior use counts in the event of a contest. The one thing you probably DO want to do in any case are the quick-and-dirty searches I mentioned above. You don't want to infringe on someone elses mark, or sink money into a business name that is already being used but not trademarked yet and when you file your own, may be contested based on prior use by the other company.