Anitria Stevenson Law

02/09/2023

Registering an LLC and buying a domain name does not mean you own the rights to your business name. ⁣⁣
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A common misconception in business is believing that if you have registered an LLC or dba and a website domain name, you have the right to use your business name as you see fit. ⁣⁣
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𝗪𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠!⁣⁣
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I see businesses launching daily and putting tons of money and resources into branding 𝗪𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 ever verifying whether they are infringing on someone else's trademark. You do 𝐍𝐎𝐓 want to invest money into a brand name that you do not own. This is a 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦.⁣⁣
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At the very least you need to have comprehensive searches on 𝐀𝐍𝐘 name logo or slogan that you intend to use to market your product or service. And by comprehensive searches, I'm not talking about Google! ⁣⁣
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You want a lawyer who will take a deep dive into reviews and searches of federal and state databases, web searches, social media and other sources to determine whether anyone has registered a trademark similar to yours, or is already using the mark in commerce. ⁣⁣
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These searches often generate up to 1,000 pages so there is a lot of information to gather and sort. If an identical or "confusingly similar" name is revealed, you'll know that there is a potential problem BEFORE you invest heavily in your brand and have an opportunity to switch gears. ⁣⁣
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Work 𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 not 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑.⁣⁣
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No one wants to be dragged into court, go through an expensive rebrand, AND relinquish profits to the trademark owner. Do your trademark due diligence and save your brainchild and commercial baby!⁣⁣
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Schedule your trademark discovery call TODAY and let's get started!⁣⁣
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AboutWork With MeTrademark & CopyrightContracts – CYABusiness FormationContactBlog Trademark & Copyright Protect Your BrandEnjoy exclusive rights to the use of your brandTrademark & CopyrightOur firm will be your voice and hold your hand through the trademark registration process. Read MoreB...

02/01/2023

February marks the beginning of Black History Month but it does not stop there. Celebrate Black History everyday!

During this month of February, let's amplify the contributions and achievements of those who came before us to pave the way as well as those who are still moving the needle of Black Excellence forward.

10/04/2022

The ideal time to register your trademark is when you are starting your business.

Delaying can possibly cost you the right to your business name and force you to rebrand.

Don't spend money investing in a name that you don't own the right to use. And remember, an LLC or website domain name does not mean that you own the name.

Only a federal trademark gives you exclusive rights to your name, logo, slogans, taglines, packaging, podcast name, product line, etc..

Click the link in my bio to schedule your free trademark discovery call or head to anitriastevenson.com

09/26/2022

I get tons of questions on what to do when someone is using your business name or logo or packaging to sell a similar product on social media. Here are a few tips:

Brand Rights Protection is a Meta tool that allows brands to identify and report content that misuses their intellectual property. To help you get the most out of Brand Rights Protection, consider the following:

✅️Add a registered trademark to your account: To be able to report violations of your intellectual property in Brand Rights Protection, you’ll need to add at least 1 registered trademark to your account.

If you have not secured your federal trademark, well we definitely should talk. You cannot protect what you do not own!

✅️Upload images to the Reference Library to automatically scan for logos and copyrighted images: When you add images to the Reference Library, Meta will proactively detect ads that may contain your reference images. The more images you add, the more information our tool has to find relevant matches. This tool is best for trademarked or copyrighted images that you own, such as a logo or product photo.

✅️Add accounts or content to your allow list: To keep content that is non-infringing out of your search results, you can add approved accounts or content to your allow list. Learn more about how to allow ads and accounts.

The above steps are the first steps in initiating a take down of infringing pages and posts. But first....do you own your brand? Do you have a registered trademark or copyright? If the answer is no, we have work to do.

Send us a dm or visit the website to schedule a call to discuss securing and protecting your brand!