Trademarks: are they worth registering?

By performing trademark searches and registering the trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and by demanding that infringers stop. Trademark rights are acquired primarily by actually using a trademark, not by registering it. Generally, the first business to use a trademark has priority in enforcing the exclusive use of the mark in its geographic market; federal registration adds national protection. A trademark search should include a search of the Internet, state incorporation databases, Internet domain names, state trademark registration databases and trade publications. A complete search usually requires a professional trademark search firm with access to all of the most commonly used databases and the knowledge to formulate appropriate search queries to find confusingly similar marks. Defensively, businesses want to minimise the likelihood of their own infringement. Offensively, businesses may want to demand that newcomers ‘cease and desist’ from using confusingly similar marks. Trademarks can be either assets or liabilities. Trademark searches and registration can both avoid business liability and create a valuable business asset.