While copyright may be the workhorse of the Internet, trademarks have quickly become its currency. It is all about creating, scaling and protecting the brand. The selection of a trademark for a digital offering is a decision that carries significant weight. This mark will come to represent the brand and not only must it be "right" from a creative perspective, it must be capable of enduring from a legal perspective.
There are many lower cost offerings available on the Internet purporting to provide the same service. However, the real value proposition is often hidden (or missing) in the details. Ours is a full service competitively priced offering. It is paramount that there is clarity with respect to what will and won't be delivered, and that a client clearly understands any potential for hidden costs.
The cost is $1,000 USD, included in this price is the following:
USPTO filing fees for Trademark class(es) are not included (currently $325 per class).
We provide a free consultation to ensure that we understand client requirements and that the client clearly understands the deliverable consists of.
The final deliverable is a completed and submitted trademark application with the USPTO.
The obvious reaction to this question is what could go wrong? The answer differentiates what we do from the automated trademark processors. First of all, a client may have selected a mark that is clearly problematic (e.g. generic or descriptive). Our consultation attempts to deal with that upfront.
It makes no business sense to proceed with a mark that is simply not viable. In addition, prior to the initial consultation, and as a requirement for conducting it, we send each potential client a checklist of activities to perform in order to ensure that, at a minimum, the selected mark is potentially viable.
Finally, if early in our search process we find a clear conflict, we inform the client that they are advised not to proceed with the selected mark. If the latter occurs we charge a fee of $300 USD, but do not proceed with the application.
The engagement ends when the completed application is delivered to the USPTO. There is no guarantee that the USPTO will accept the application. Our rigorous (and fault tolerant) process is designed to ensure acceptance, but we do not promise that it will do so. Therefore, the fixed fee does not cover any office actions that might be necessary to obtain acceptance, or any other subsequent actions post submittal. We are, of course, willing to work with clients to resolve these actions, but this is a separate engagement.