Considering filing your trademark without a lawyer? Spend $17 to have a lawyer file it instead.
The TrademarksForStartups.com promotion starts at 12:17 ET 10/01/10 and ends 12:17 pm ET 12/31/10 (2010 Q4, for those of you scoring at home).
You got questions? I got answers.
1. Aren’t you the same dude who did the http://www.freetrademarksforstartups.com promotion?
Yes. I am that dude.
2. What’s the difference between this promotion and that one?
$17.
3. Wait, what about filing fees?
OK, it’s actually $17 plus the USPTO’s filing fees. See? It pays to read the fine print. Keep reading.
4. Why aren’t you paying the filing fees like you did last time?
I am hoping to attract new clients who are already committed to filing a trademark application, already budgeted for the USPTO’s filing fee. Then making those folks an offer they cannot refuse.
5. Who qualifies for the promotion?
- You must be a startup. This term is loosely defined, so this should be an easy requirement to meet.
- You must be a company. That means that you must be organized in some state in a way that I can verify via the web, for example via the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s corporations database or Delaware Secretary of State’s corporations database. Or whatever state your company is organized in. Trademark law is federal law, so you and the firm don’t have to be located in the same state. As such, our clients are located all over the country (and the world).
- You must have at least one registered domain name, and your domain name must be registered in the name of your company. We recommend that companies register their company name, product names, and trademarks as domain names in all of the generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) (including .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, and .us). You should also register domain typos, including singular and plural variations. Registering multiple domains is cheap insurance to protect against possible infringing use. Also, we recommend registering domains in the name of your company using the exact same contact information for each domain.
- You must contact me electronically. Preferably via Twitter (@ErikJHeels) direct message. You can also email me; my email address is easy to find.
- You must hire my firm, Clock Tower Law Group, by using our proposal letter. Future payments must be made by credit card.
To be specific, the value of this offer is $1458 per company ($1800 regular charge minus $325 filing fee minus $17). The $17 covers everything from hiring to filing, including the trademark search, application drafting, and application filing. It does not cover any USPTO filing fees. It does not cover any costs after the filing (such as responding to office actions and the like). Most of our trademarks issue without major problems because we work hard to get them right initially. Clock Tower Law Group’s fees are fully disclosed on our website. As is our list of cool clients.
6. Do existing clients qualify? What about folks you’ve already sent proposals to?
This proposal is for companies that are new to me. Not for existing clients and not for folks I’ve already sent proposals to. But I will extend this offer to those folks as well. All you have to do is refer one new client to Clock Tower Law Group, and we’ll extend this offer to both of you.
7. Why are you doing this?
First, I want to help. Despite what some economists have said recently, most of us appreciate that we are entering year three of this recession.
Second, based on a survey that my firm conducted, each company has, on average, four unregistered trademarks. So I’m counting on your future business, as well as your referrals. I’m being straight with you. I’ll trust you to be fair with us.
8. Why $17?
Because 17 is the most random number.
9. Anything else we need to know?
I reserve the right to cancel this offer at any time. If this offer is wildly successful, then I might not be able to keep up with the demand. But I supposed that would be a good problem to have. If I have to cancel or modify this offer, then I will do so via a comment to this blog post. You can find this post at:
I launched my law firm the week of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was very quiet in my office in the fall of 2001 and the spring of 2002. Two years later, I was featured in a cover story in the ABA Journal on lawyers as risk-takers. The advice I give to startups is this: get plants. Because some days you are going to need a reason to go to the office. Most startups fail. But those that succeed are the ones that persevere through the tough times. As my mentor once said, success is not so much a matter of being at the right place at the right time as it is a matter of being. Just keep plugging. Go to the office. Water the plants.
10. Couldn’t you make this list go to 10?
Yes.
11. Eleven is better than ten.
Even though that’s not a question, I agree.
Related Posts:
- Madrid Protocol: Affordable International Trademarks For Startups
The Madrid Protocol is a great option for startups who want foreign trademark protection but don’t want to file trademarks in separate countries. - Domain Name Law
White hat domainers are not black hat cybersquatters. - Yahoo! Registers First Favicon Trademark
Clock Tower Law Group filed historic favicon.ico trademark. - Trademarks For Company Names And Nicknames
Trademarking company names and nicknames. Just drop the “Inc.” - Trademarks For Logos
Trademarking logos. - Trademarks For Product And Service Names
Trademarking product and service names. - Trademarks For Slogans And Taglines
Trademarking slogans and taglines. - Just Say Moo – How To Name And Brand Your Product To Make It Stand Out From The Crowd
Good branding can separate your cow from the other cattle. - How To Name Your Company, Trademark Your Domain Name, And Domain Name Your Trademark
Think there are no cool domain names left? Think again. I found 201 cool domain names that are taken but six (count ’em, six) that are not. Some of them from a box of crayons. Plus strategies for protecting your trademarks, domain names, and company name.
