Hi all,
The reason for this thread is my hopes of someone learning from a huge setback I'm experiencing right now with a new business.
I created a really good brand name quite some time ago (Feb 2016). When I created it, I checked the USPTO and the Canadian Trademark Database. The name wasn't used in my field. Since then, I've been through rounds of designs and prototypes. The process has been quite long. I received my finalized prototypes 2 weeks ago and I processed a production order. I've also begun marketing.
Something in the back of my mind told me to check the databases again and 2 new trademarks have now appeared in the US. One of them was submitted in Sept 2016 and the other in Dec 2016. Both are in registered in my industry. I have now lost total use of this name. Most people recommend to trademark after you start selling, but I recently learnt that you can still submit an application in advance before you start selling, just to get the process rolling. If you do this, a company can register after you and even start selling before you, but you will still have the upper hand in the courts due to the registration date and submission date, regardless of the date your products hit the market (as per my trademark attorney).
In addition to the above, 1 out of the 2 is a Chinese trademark squatter. Yes, these unethical piece of shits exist in this category also. I had no idea. What this means is, this person falsely trademarked my name before me, without having any real intentional use for it and for the sole purpose and intention of suing a company like mine in the future for trademark infringement. I'm assuming, one of the close factories I contacted in China last year found out about my name and trademarked it before I did. I checked the USPTO database files and this person clearly stole my logo (altered it just a tad), and photo shopped it on a bunch of products to look legitimate. Only about 3 factories actually knew my name because I usually contact suppliers with a fake name linked to a gmail account. The three factories which knew about it were the ones I was serious about doing prototypes with and my logo were in my design and technical specs. It's also just possible that someone came across my name by some other means and decided to trademark it before I got around to doing so.
I had to put a stop on production on all my products. I had to stop all packaging with my logo on it. I have to now create a new name with in a few days, incorporate it, redo all my social media, websites, TRADEMARK it, etc. This is a huge mess right now, has kicked me in the nuts hard and demotivated me to a huge degree. It took me several months to find my original brand name and I'm having a very hard time coming up with something just as good or better.
I hope someone learns from my mistakes and never trust anyone, especially factories overseas. Once you create a brand name for your business, I recommend for you to trademark it ASAP. If you're in Canada or US, I suggest trademarking it in both countries. I'm in Canada, I'm focusing on US first, Canada second (all of my products are being imported to the US and shipped from the US) so the US trademark is of more importance.
Cheers,
Dan
The reason for this thread is my hopes of someone learning from a huge setback I'm experiencing right now with a new business.
I created a really good brand name quite some time ago (Feb 2016). When I created it, I checked the USPTO and the Canadian Trademark Database. The name wasn't used in my field. Since then, I've been through rounds of designs and prototypes. The process has been quite long. I received my finalized prototypes 2 weeks ago and I processed a production order. I've also begun marketing.
Something in the back of my mind told me to check the databases again and 2 new trademarks have now appeared in the US. One of them was submitted in Sept 2016 and the other in Dec 2016. Both are in registered in my industry. I have now lost total use of this name. Most people recommend to trademark after you start selling, but I recently learnt that you can still submit an application in advance before you start selling, just to get the process rolling. If you do this, a company can register after you and even start selling before you, but you will still have the upper hand in the courts due to the registration date and submission date, regardless of the date your products hit the market (as per my trademark attorney).
In addition to the above, 1 out of the 2 is a Chinese trademark squatter. Yes, these unethical piece of shits exist in this category also. I had no idea. What this means is, this person falsely trademarked my name before me, without having any real intentional use for it and for the sole purpose and intention of suing a company like mine in the future for trademark infringement. I'm assuming, one of the close factories I contacted in China last year found out about my name and trademarked it before I did. I checked the USPTO database files and this person clearly stole my logo (altered it just a tad), and photo shopped it on a bunch of products to look legitimate. Only about 3 factories actually knew my name because I usually contact suppliers with a fake name linked to a gmail account. The three factories which knew about it were the ones I was serious about doing prototypes with and my logo were in my design and technical specs. It's also just possible that someone came across my name by some other means and decided to trademark it before I got around to doing so.
I had to put a stop on production on all my products. I had to stop all packaging with my logo on it. I have to now create a new name with in a few days, incorporate it, redo all my social media, websites, TRADEMARK it, etc. This is a huge mess right now, has kicked me in the nuts hard and demotivated me to a huge degree. It took me several months to find my original brand name and I'm having a very hard time coming up with something just as good or better.
I hope someone learns from my mistakes and never trust anyone, especially factories overseas. Once you create a brand name for your business, I recommend for you to trademark it ASAP. If you're in Canada or US, I suggest trademarking it in both countries. I'm in Canada, I'm focusing on US first, Canada second (all of my products are being imported to the US and shipped from the US) so the US trademark is of more importance.
Cheers,
Dan
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