Trademark Audit 101
In December 2014, shortly after creating 17 Seconds (which, in case you hadn’t noticed, is always published at 17:17 on the 17th of each month, because 17), I audited all of the trademarks used by Clocktower Law and GiantPeople (the company that owns/publishes this blog). Then, as if practicing what I preach, I made sure that I was using the trademarks I had registered and registered the trademarks I was using. For the descriptive word trademarks (which cannot easily be registered), I hired Clockwork Design Group to create new logos with a distinctive non-text element (i.e. the recursive airplane logo and perfect treehouse logo). For all brands, favicons were also created. (I know, passive voice.) And in most cases, there are domain names and social networking usernames corresponding to the trademarks. The whole process took about a year.
Here (alphabetically, natch) is the result of my trademark audit:
1. 17 SECONDS [airplane logo]
- services: Providing on-line newsletters in the field of patent and trademark law (class 041)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn86492143/content
- specimen: https://www.giantpeople.com/category/law/17-seconds
2. CLOCK TOWER LAW GROUP [airplane logo]
- services: Legal services in the field of intellectual property, namely patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret matters (class 042)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn78614746/content
- specimen: http://www.clocktowerlaw.com/
3. CLOCK TOWER LAW GROUP [word]
- services: Legal services in the field of intellectual property, namely patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret matters (class 042)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn78348706/content
- specimen: http://www.clocktowerlaw.com/
4. Erik J. Heels [treehouse logo]
- services: Providing a website featuring blogs and non-downloadable publications in the nature of articles in the fields of technology, law, baseball, and music (class 041)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn86491749/content
- specimen: https://www.giantpeople.com/
5. GiantPeople [treehouse logo]
- services: Internet marketing consulting for lawyers (class 035)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn86491730/content
- specimen: https://www.giantpeople.com/
6. GiantPeople [word]
- services: Internet marketing consulting for lawyers (class 035)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn85908095/content
- specimen: https://www.giantpeople.com/
7. LAW LAW LAW [airplane logo]
- services: Providing on-line newsletters in the field of technology, law, baseball, and music (class 041)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn86492170/content
- specimen: http://www.lawlawlaw.com/
8. Lawyers For Human Beings [logo]
- services: Legal services in the field of intellectual property (class 045)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn85804519/content
- specimen: http://www.lawyersforhumanbeings.com/
9. Lawyers For Human Beings [word]
- services: Legal services in the field of intellectual property (class 045)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn86189695/content
- specimen: http://www.lawyersforhumanbeings.com/
10. RedStreet [word]
- services: Providing a website featuring reviews of other websites, namely, websites which provide legal services (class 045)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn77622806/content
- specimen: http://www.redstreet.com/
11. The Law Firm Where Everybody Knows Your Name [word]
- services: legal services in the field of intellectual property, namely patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret matters (class 045)
- trademark: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/casestatus/sn77076603/content
- specimen: http://www.thelawfirmwhereeverybodyknowsyourname.com/
Can you find any gaps in my trademark self-audit? I can. But that’s fodder for another day. Hey, maybe I should audit my trademarks annually! Because protecting brands with trademarks is a process, not an event.
