Hi Reader!

This week, I dropped the third installment of the quarterly creative business legal tasks.

And I’m going to challenge you to do one of those tasks this week: deciding if you are currently in the sweet spot for trademark registration.

So, how do you know you are in the sweet spot and it’s time to start the trademark registration process?

The first way you know is that your name is eligible, but it's not unique enough. And someone else might come along and use the same name.

Like our Amazon Bookstore ladies, you’ll have strong legal rights to stop them from using the name, but it could quickly become an expensive battle. And so, registering it before someone swoops in is the smarter thing to do.

The second way to know you're in that sweet spot is how committed you are to the name. Once you register your trademark, your first renewal opportunity is between five and six years. And so, I tell clients that we should only be registering if they will still be using it when the first renewal is available.

Because registering a trademark is about a $2,500 investment, and you want to make sure that that $2,500 investment is worth it.

Speaking of $2,500, that’s the third way to know that it’s time. That you either have $2,500 saved up or the cash flow that you can spend $2,500 that month.

The reason is that applying for a trademark is one of the few things that I am very anti-DIY. It’s one of the things that I strongly recommend you hire an attorney for. (You can read why here.)

So that’s how you know when you are in the sweet spot, and it’s time to hire an attorney to register your trademark.

Here are a few more trademark resources:

• Want the full scoop on how to know if you are in the sweet spot (and to know the process involved in registration)? Head over to this 2000+ word blog post.​
• The first step of registering your trademark (and one of the legal must-dos I cover in the Legal Roadmap for Your Creative Business book) is making sure that what you pick for your business, brand, or product name won’t infringe on anyone else. This process is called doing a trademark search, and you can hire me to do this research for you!
• How do trademark and copyright interact when it comes to things like your business logo? This post breaks down how each might protect this important business asset.​
• Is your awesome phrase instead on a mug, t-shirt, notebook, card, or hat? Learn if you can (or should) try to file a trademark application for something printed on a product.​

👉 Your action item: Decide if you are in the sweet spot and, if so, start the process of registering your trademark.

Did you complete this task? Come share your thoughts and questions about trademarks on LinkedIn or Facebook.

I'll be sitting at my computer until about 9:30 AM Pacific, and I'd love to know if you run into any roadblocks in completing this week's task. (And if you are reading this after that, please reply! I'll get back to you ASAP.)

Chat soon,

6 20-minute tasks you can do in Q3 to secure your legal foundation

Are you following along with the quarterly legal checkup series? The task above is one of six I’m encouraging you to do this quarter. Learn the other five in this week’s blog post.​

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❤️ Easy to understand legal resources should be available to every creative, regardless of their financial situation. If one of my resources has helped you and you would like to say “thank you”, you can make a contribution here. ❤️