Earlier this week, my company announced a name change from Rose Communications to RoseComm®. Our reasons for changing were many, but the main driver was the fact that we’d uncovered several other Rose Communications since we launched our business a decade ago. At the time, they didn’t come up in our basic search for similar names. And they were creating confusion when people referred others to us.
Many of our clients and partners naturally started calling us RoseComm early in our existence. It makes sense — not only is it our domain name, but people naturally like to use nicknames. After much deliberation, we decided to make our nickname our official name.
But I didn’t want to invest in yet another name without filing for protection with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. With the advice of a good friend who happens to be a trademark attorney, I applied for a trademark myself using LegalZoom.
It was a long (about a year!), but interesting process. The total cost was $734 ($325 of which is a government fee). I agreed to pay extra for a comprehensive trademark search, which returned anything remotely close to RoseComm. This helps you better understand your chances for success, as the government won’t register a trademark that is not unique in its category. I wasn’t concerned by any of the results, so I decided to continue with the application process.
Once the government approves your application, they publish it for public comments. No one contested RoseComm, so we were just about in the clear. The final hurdle is providing a statement of use — i.e. proof you’ve used the trademark in the marketplace. I submitted a piece of collateral we created for TEDxHoboken, but it was rejected because RoseComm was included in text as opposed to standing on its own. Once you submit a statement of use, you cannot change the date of first use. This left me with a dilemma because we had not used RoseComm much while we waited for approval of our trademark. Then I thought about my Twitter handle, which has always been @rosecomm.
I asked the government attorney if they would consider a Twitter handle as proof of use. She was intrigued and said they’ve never been asked that before. After checking with her supervisor, she let me know that a copy of my Twitter page would satisfy their statement of use requirement.
I don’t know if we were truly the first to ask, but this seemed an experience worth sharing for others who are on the path to trademark protection. Now we need to get to work on our website redesign.