Episode 18 - Matthew Hintz - Your trademark tells what your company is going to be!

What is your company going to be? It's your trademark!

Today I have Matthew Hintz, a trademark lawyer from New Jersey, on to talk about trademarking your business.  What's the difference between a trademark and a patent?  A patent is protection on a method or a system, where trademark is protection on the word (a.k.a. Wordmark).

Trademark's come in a few variants, such as trademarks, servicemarks, and trade secrets.  A trademark protects your name, whether your company or your business.  A trademark protects the actual product name.  Where as a servicemarks protects a service (such as Chase Bank services).

You need to look at trademarks in advance before you try to name your company or product.  Using the USPTO, you can search for free to see if the product name is already trademarked. This goes for URL's as well.

Matt gives some great advice on how to protect yourself, and some examples of how larger companies have positioned themselves to make sure their trademarks are listed properly.  

Links Mentioned During the Show:

Above The Law - Slütsof In Stagram - One of the stories Matt and I discussed during the episode.

Servilla Whitney, LLC - Matt's companies page.

Contact Matt

Matt's on twitter

For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.