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Registering a trademark for a habiliment line or brand tin be confusing for many people. There are a number of different factors like your company or make name, logo, and the design of the clothing itself that may exist treated differently nether trademark law, depending on usage. Let's examine what aspects of your company and your clothing line can be protected past filing for a trademark, and how you tin can get nearly doing so.

Remember: trademarks protect the identifying factors of a product, like brand name and logo, not the particulars of a product itself. Trademarks be importantly to prevent confusion among similar offerings due to similar names. Other aspects of your clothing like blueprint and functionality may, in express cases, exist field of study to protections under copyright and patent police force, respectively, which we will hash out later, merely your major business concern – and where yous'll be afforded the most legal protection – is in the expanse of a trademark for the name of your wear line (and logo, if you take one).

Items to consider prior to beginning the process of filing a trademark for your brand of clothing:

Earlier you begin the procedure of registering a trademark for your clothing line, you need to make sure of a few things. Showtime, your name and logo should be unique. Not only does that hateful that they're distinguishable from any other existing trademarks – it also means that they need to exist distinguishable from whatsoever commonplace words, phrases, or designs. In other words, in that location needs to be a degree of originality and inventiveness – non merely a descriptive or generic term.

Second, your name and/or logo need to exist established and "in use" at the fourth dimension that yous use for a registered trademark. If not, y'all'll need to file your awarding as an "intent to utilise," application, which will provide you with federal priority on the trademark while you constitute your article of clothing line'southward "use in commerce" – meaning you begin to design, produce, and sell your article of clothing. "Intent to use" trademark applications require a second "proof of use" filing within 12 months of the initial filing, showing that you've fulfilled those requirements.

Trademark registration process for a clothing brand:

Once you've designed and begun using your marking, yous tin can start the official registration process. That starts with a comprehensive review of existing registered trademarks and other companies in your industry to ensure that your brand, your name, and your logo aren't already established and/or registered by another party. Information technology's best to have an attorney perform the search, since search engines and basic trademark search tools (like the one provided past the Usa Patent and Trademark Office) will rarely turn upward like names, alternate spellings, and other instances that might atomic number 82 to the rejection of your trademark application. Getting the review phase right is critical, since if you lot exercise happen to borrow on an existing marking, y'all'll be forced to abandon your brand-building work and start over from square 1.

When you're confident that your company constitutes the first and only use of your mark, you tin can then submit a trademark application through the USPTO. For a habiliment line, the application will have several components, consisting primarily of the necessary paperwork, and what's known as a "specimen" of the trademark as it'due south used on your apparel. The specimen requirement tin can be confusing – let's look into information technology a bit further.

Key factors in the U.s.a. government review of a trademark filing for a clothing line:

A key cistron in determining the viability of your wear line's name and logo lies in the deviation between utilize every bit a mark – that is, as a readily identifiable indicator of your brand – and "ornamental" employ – pregnant that it's seen equally a design element because the trademark just appears on the chest of a t-shirt, for instance.

In order to avoid an ornamental refusal for your clothing brand trademark, it is important to follow the USPTO guidelines for proper use of a wear trademark.  The USPTO requires that a trademark for a brand of clothing appears on a tag fastened to the habiliment (a cervix tag, hang tag or price tag).  If the trademark does not appear on the tag for your habiliment, any trademark application will likely be refused for beingness too ornamental.

What is protected by a trademark for a make of clothing?

Finally, let'southward articulate up some questions about what aspects of your clothing brand are not covered by trademark law – the design aspects. In nearly all cases, patterns, styles, and the full general look of clothing aren't subject to intellectual property protection. That fact is the basis for the "knock-off" garment and accessory industry. If yous have a detail design or image that yous use on an article of habiliment, that creative work – not the garment itself – is protected nether copyright police force. Unlicensed use of a copyrighted work – on a t-shirt, for instance, or anywhere else – tin be stopped. But remember – it'due south the original work itself that's covered, not the clothing it appears on.

If you've created a new, functional design – a unique handbag, for instance – in some cases, you can apply for a patent to protect it. It's typically hard to gain those patents, though, as the utility of the pattern must be proven in order to qualify. In other words, part, not form, is what matters. The patent process is as well even lengthier than the trademark application process and can take several years to consummate.

So call back: uniqueness and usage are the cardinal factors when you're registering a trademark for your clothing line, every bit well as navigating the awarding and specimen examples required by the USPTO.