Trademark & Brand Protection
Build a brand
that’s actually
yours.
Trademark attorney for small businesses, beauty brands & entrepreneurs.
Your brand name is one of your most valuable business assets. Once you launch publicly under a name that is not protected, every dollar you spend on marketing, packaging, and recognition is at risk. We protect what you have worked to build.
What We Handle
Full-service trademark
representation.
01
Trademark Clearance Search
A professional search before you commit: identical marks, phonetically similar marks, and visually related marks across the relevant goods and services classes. The single most important step before investing in a name publicly. Beauty is a crowded space.
02
USPTO Filing & Registration
Application preparation and filing, including the right Nice Classification classes, a carefully drafted identification of goods and services, and the strategic decisions including the use-based vs. intent-to-use decision that determines the strength of your registration.
03
Office Action Responses
If the USPTO raises questions or issues a refusal, a substantive response is required within three months. We draft likelihood-of-confusion arguments, disclaimers, and amended identifications to keep your application moving forward.
04
Enforcement & Opposition
Cease-and-desist letters, TTAB opposition proceedings, and infringement analysis. A registered trademark is a legal tool. We help you use it to stop others from trading on the brand recognition you have worked to build.
We Also Handle
Flat-Fee Pricing
Trademark applications starting at $1,800 + filing fees.
Flat-fee representation. No billing surprises.
What Most Founders Don’t Know
Timing Is the Strategy
Trademark rights in the U.S. are based on first use, but registration creates a legal presumption of nationwide priority from the filing date. An intent-to-use application filed before you launch establishes that priority before competitors can.
Class Selection Defines Scope
Your trademark is only as strong as the goods and services it covers. Registering in the wrong Nice Classification classes, or too few, leaves meaningful gaps in your protection. Getting this right at filing is far easier than trying to fix it later.
Registration Is Not the Finish Line
Federal registration requires maintenance filings between years 5 and 6, and again at renewal. A mark not properly maintained can be cancelled. We track your deadlines and monitor the USPTO for new applications that could infringe on your registered mark.
Serving brand founders in Narberth, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia’s Main Line, and nationally.
A Common Misconception
You do not own
your name.
Not yet.
LLC
Does not protect your brand name.
An LLC is a state-level legal entity. It gives you liability protection. It does not give you exclusive rights to your name in other states, or even in the same state in a different context.
Domain Name
Does not protect your brand name.
Owning yourname.com means you paid a registrar for a web address. Someone with a federally registered trademark can still require you to stop using a name you have built a website around.
Social Handle
Does not protect your brand name.
Platform usernames are governed by each platform’s own terms. A registered trademark gives you legal standing that platform policies cannot provide.
A federal trademark registration is the only way to secure exclusive nationwide rights to your brand name, logo, or slogan, and the only legal tool that lets you enforce them.
Client Experiences
Frequently Asked Questions
- The first step is a clearance search: not just a Google search or a quick scan of the USPTO database, but a professional search that looks for identical marks, phonetically similar marks, and visually similar marks in related goods and services classes. Beauty is a crowded trademark space. A name that appears available on the surface often has a close relative that could block your registration or expose you to an infringement claim. The clearance process is the single most important step you can take before investing in branding.
- From the date of filing, USPTO trademark applications currently take approximately 12 to 18 months to reach registration, and sometimes longer if the examining attorney issues an Office Action (a formal question or refusal). If your application is opposed by another brand owner during the 30-day opposition period, the process can take significantly longer. This timeline is why filing early, before you invest heavily in brand-building, is so important. You want the registration process underway, not just starting, by the time your brand is publicly visible.
- An Office Action is a written communication from the USPTO examining attorney who reviews your application. It may identify issues ranging from procedural requirements (like a specimen of use) to substantive refusals (like likelihood of confusion with an existing mark or a finding that your mark is descriptive). You typically have three months to respond. The response must address each ground for refusal; failure to respond, or an inadequate response, results in abandonment of the application. Office Actions are common and do not necessarily mean your application will be refused, but they require a timely, well-crafted response.
- If you have a registered trademark, your options for responding to infringement include: sending a cease-and-desist letter, filing a complaint with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) if the infringing party has filed an application, and pursuing litigation in federal court. The right approach depends on the severity of the infringement, the geographic scope, and your business priorities. Not every infringement situation requires litigation; many are resolved through negotiation. Having a registered trademark provides the legal foundation to pursue each of these options.
- Trademark rights are territorial; a US registration gives you protection in the United States, not globally. If you sell in other countries (or plan to), you may need registrations in those markets as well. The Madrid Protocol is an international filing system that allows you to seek trademark protection in multiple countries through a single application. Whether international registration makes sense for your business depends on where you actually sell, where your products are manufactured, and where you face the most infringement risk. This is worth discussing once your US registration is underway.
- Yes. Trademark protection extends to names, logos, slogans, and even certain sounds and colors, including anything that functions as a source identifier for your goods or services. Many brands register both a word mark (the name itself) and a design mark (the logo). A word mark is generally the stronger protection because it covers the name regardless of how it is styled. If your brand has a distinctive logo or tagline, those are worth evaluating for registration as well.
Already received one?
Got a USPTO Office Action?
Office Actions have deadlines. The response window is three months from the date of the Office Action, extendable to six. A late or inadequate response results in abandonment. Send it over for a free review.
Email for a Free Office Action ReviewGet Started
Your brand name
is worth
protecting.
Book a consultation to talk through clearance, registration strategy, or any trademark question you have been putting off.