Will you like it if you spend hours, days, and weeks working on a design, and when you finally publish it, someone else copies your designs, makes minor changes, and posts that as their own work? Well, that’s triggering.
Similarly, if you are willing to open a clothing brand or have already launched it and you want no one else to copy your designs, you need to get your clothing business trademarked. It’s essential to trademark a brand like yours. In legal words, getting your business trademarked makes your business a brand, provides you rights to do business and saves you from copycats in the market.
Your aim should be to develop a brand image that becomes a centre of attention for your target market and make your clothing market a leading choice. To achieve this, you will need to work on clothing brand marketing techniques and do thorough research, but on the other side, you’ll need to consider fulfilling legal requirements to protect your brand identity.
The process of trademarking your fashion brand is a little complex but essential to understand. Here is a detailed guide on how you can trademark your clothing brand. So, let’s get started with several things you need to consider when trademarking your clothing brand.
What Is Trademark Clothing?
Trademark is required when the fashion brand, company, or designer wants to reserve all the rights of their product lines. It means to have a trademark over a tag proving that you’re the legal owner of your brand.
Registration can be an involved and time consuming process. When it comes to clothing brands, trademark registration can require multiple steps that need to be followed in order to complete registration successfully. You may have questions along the way which need answering; hopefully this article can provide answers!
Why Should You Trademark Your Clothing Brand?
Clothing brand, artists, and designers don’t like their product content being copied. So, to protect your logos, designs, brand name, and ideas, you’ll need to obtain its rights. It’s essential to have a trademark to create a good impression on your consumer market,
To qualify for a trademark, it is critical to have an original brand name, design, slogan, logo, etc. Having a trademark helps in increasing your brand image among the customers. Your trademark immediately tells about your products and speaks for quality. You can bring your consumers’ loyalty to your brand.
You can get ownership of your clothing by having a trademark application filed by your lawyer in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
For Example:
When you trademark your company, consider every little detail and the different types of protections that trademarks offer. Having a more significant number of trademarks registered is always beneficial for you. In this way, you will have more intellectual-owning portfolios.
Trademarking your clothing business helps protect your designs
With too much competition in the market, countless brands are working on the same niche and targeting the same target audience. So to keep your clothing line business original and authentic, you need to trademark your business so that you have the right to legally press charges against any brand trying to copy your designs.
You can prevent competitors from copying your original designs and selling your brand clothes under their names. Trademarking a business provides legal protection against identity theft. The fashion industry games are all about new designs, trends, and creativity, and all the brands in the clothing industry are highly concerned about maintaining their privacy and keeping their original work to themselves.
Benefits Trademarking for Your Clothing Brand.
- The biggest advantage you will have by trademarking your brand is that your clothing line will be identified as a brand. Adding copyright to your clothing brand to your name, logo, slogan, and designs will make your business more valuable for both customers and investors.
- You all have the right to use the trademark wherever you want it. Usually, the clothing brand likes to place the trademark on the price tag over the clothing line by adding the trademark in the clothing design. And if you are dealing with whole-sellers, retailers, or other investors, you can also license your clothing as it becomes a certified, trusted, and professional source.
- It helps build your brand image and keep customers loyal to your brand. A registered and trademarked clothing business sets you apart from your competition. You can press charges against the copycats and design stealers in the market, as you will have the right to do so with a trademark of your business.
- Your trademark will speak for your originality. Even if someone else makes a similar design shirt based on your idea, your distinctive trademark will create a difference.
- As a designer or clothing maker, you will use lots of decorative and designing elements that are ornamental by USPTO. Adding them to your design won’t affect your trademark status.
- The biggest reason + advantage you have when you trademark your clothing brand is that your brand becomes protected. A registered trademark comes with many rights and protections to your brand name. Once your brand is registered and approved, no one else in the market can use your design, name, logo, idea, or trademark without your permission. If you spot any brand doing so, you have all the right to charge them and get a financial gain.
Different Ways to obtain a Secure Trademarks for Your Clothing Brand
I know you are wondering how to get your secure trademark for your clothing line. There are 03 ways by which you can obtain a secure trademark for your clothing brand.
1. Federal registration.
2. State registration.
3. To use for commercial trading.
Federal Registration
Federal registration provides you with official rights, exclusive ownership rights, and the right to press charges against any other brand in federal court. Plus, your registered brand would be added to the database list of trademarks.
State Registration
The state registration provides you with a public record about your trademark and gives the public notice that this logo, brand name, or design is currently in use. If any brand is caught up violating the rules of trademark law, that can be held accountable for it.
Commercial Trading
Your brand name, logo, or slogan of your clothing business is enough to trademark without needing to register your business. However, the trademark process doesn’t provide you with the maximum legal protection.
How To Trademark Your Business Federally?
To register a clothing brand federally, you’ll need to sign an affidavit that mentions the date of your first usage. The said date will determine the “first use” date and clarify who qualifies to use the trademark for business. When patenting your clothing brand, you’ll need to provide a sample drawing of your trademark and the sample of the clothing sample for the USPTO to check the database for similar trademarks.
They’ll reject your application if you submit similar marks or the same clothing sample designs that are already registered.
What is a Trademark Specimen?
The trademark specimen is a sample of your trademark used in your business. This trademark proves how you are actually using the brand for your business in the marketplace or market space by selling services or goods or intending to register your business.
A specimen can be just a tag or label with a visible trademark attached to your products. Your product contains a trademark of your brand, or the packaging of your product shows a trademark of your business.
If you offer services, a specimen for your business presents your trademark as evidence of an e-commerce business’s actual trademark. It associates your business services with the trademark.
For Example:
Suppose you want to apply to register your intellectual business or clothing brand as a registered business. In that case, you must submit a trademark specimen to the USPTO based on the “ornamentation.”
And note that if your trademark image is put right on the front of your clothing line, then there are 90% chances that it’ll get rejected by USPTO, so you must follow a realistic approach like placing your mark on a hand tag, pocket, or any other appropriate positioning in your clothing line.
How to Get Your Clothing Business Trademarked?
The process of trademarking your intellectual property is a breakdown into a couple of steps.
Select a Unique brand name
Start by developing your brand. Be sure to give it an original name, while when it comes to marketing your business make sure its name, image, and logo can easily be remembered by target market consumers.
Legally, it’s crucial that any other brand does not use your business name, brand image and logo without your explicit approval.
Determine the clothing niche
Choose a brand name for your clothing brand and its logo, after that you need to determine what products and services you need to sell in the marketplace also make sure to provide accurate information about your brand and business when filling out the trademark application form.
Register your clothing business
Now comes the registering phase of your clothing business or intellectual business. You can register your business through the USPTO and must make sure that there isn’t any similar or identical business to you. The USPTO doesn’t approve an equal company to an existing trademark. You can search here for an existing trademark that has already been registered.
To have an idea of the registered business, USPTO provides you with an online database that you can browse and check if some other business owns their desired trademark or not.
We suggest you work with an experienced attorney trademark. This will make your process easy. Another benefit you get with a professional and experienced attorney is that they have access to databases that are not visible to the common people.
After you are done with the search for trademark and verification, make sure that the trademark you are going to buy is not already used. Then you are all good to file your application. If you have previously worked with a trademark attorney to conduct a USPTO, asking for their assistance in completing a USPTO research is helpful.
Be attentive while filling out the details; any mistakes or even minor errors can lead you to significant delays and problems and might cause your application to reject. Here are the five major reasons that will cause your trademark application to be rejected.
How Much Does It Cost to Trademark A Clothing Brand?
Protecting your brand from copycats and preserving the copyright might include owning multiple trademarks. The USPTO allows and grants trademarks based on the classification systems. It depends on your product classification, and you might need to get various trademarks for your clothing brands.
The essential cost to register your clothing brand with USPTO is around $350 per class of goods. It depends on the offering that you offer on your brand. You will need to buy several trademarks if there are more categories on your brand.
Also, there is no fixed price for trademarking your brand; the costs can increase drastically, as you might have to buy multiple trademarks. And you will need to protect other trademarks to protect your brand.
Firstly, you will need to save your brand name, logo, and slogan, and the next thing is the unique color schemes or graphics or colors you will use to trademark your business.
It’s critical to understand the options you have on the registration form. There are 02 categories under which the trademark falls: “intent to use” and “commercial use.”
Commercial use: Commercial use indicates that you have immediate plans to sell your services and good in the market.
Intent to use: The intent to use a trademark indicates that you will use your trademark for commercial means in the future.
What to Do If Someone Infringes On Your Clothing Business?
The infringement of the trademark applies when any brand or party attempts to use another’s trademark from their work without permission from the trademark owner. If you feel that someone else has used your trademark without your authorization, it is within your rights to press charges against them or seek legal advice regarding how best to rectify the situation.
The cease and desist letter puts a full stop to the infringing party and explains the infringement’s nature. Moreover, it demands the infringing or copycat party to cease. If the infringing party is not taking preventative steps in response to your cease and desist letter, you have all the right to sue them in federal court.
Your attorney will guide you through how you can gain financial profits in such a situation.
Wrapping up
Registering your clothing brand and trademarking it is more complex than it seems. There may be several issues you come across while following this process, and to make the experience smoother, it would be beneficial if legal advice could be sought; this will ease the process of trademarking a clothing brand.
FAQs
How Long Does a Trademark Last?
The trademarks don’t expire after a certain period. It lasts as long as the business owner keeps using the trademark. Patents and copyrights also expire after an established period.
Should I Trademark or Copyright My clothing line?
Yes, suppose you are offering the original designs and patterns and don’t want them to be copied by others. In that case, you need to get your clothing line copyrighted as copyright helps in protecting the artistic practices and designs on clothes.
How Much Does It Cost to Trademark My Clothing Brand?
For an idea, the cost to register a trademark with the USPTO is around $350 per class of goods. Charges may vary based on your product offering.
