Does a Montana Business Need to Trademark Its Name or Product?

Many local business owners ask me if they need to trademark their business’ name or product by registering it with the federal trademark office. The answer is, “Not really.”

A trademark is legal protection for the trade name of a business or product. (A service mark is essentially a trademark for a business in the service sector; service marks are often a slogan.)

A common misconception is that owning a trademark means you own a word or phrase and others cannot use it. You don’t “own” the trademarked word or phrase in general; you own the right to exclude others from using it as applied to the goods or services you provide in your geographic area. So, for example, if you make a snow removal attachment for a lawn mower called a “Snow Cone,” you don’t completely own those words and cannot prevent an ice cream truck from selling “snow cones.”

The reason almost all local businesses don’t need to register a federal trademark is that under MCA 30-13-336 the business already has some state-law protections under the common law. In addition, a business can easily and inexpensively register its trademark with the state of Montana, which puts other businesses in the state on notice that you claim it. However, a state registration is effectively only in Montana. This is good enough for most local businesses.

Registering your trademark with the federal government protects your trademark throughout the country. However, a federal trademark is a much more complicated and expensive process than registering it with the state. Most local businesses don’t need nationwide trademark protection.

By the way, the “®” symbol after a word or phrase stands for “Registered” with the federal trademark office. The symbol “TM” means you’re claiming a state trademark. (You learn something new every day – especially when you read this blog.)

For a copy of this Ask An Attorney column, including hyperlinks to the referenced resources, go to www.OverstreetLawGroup.com/blog

(This information is of a general nature; exceptions to these general statements might exist. This information is for general educational purposes only; no attorney-client relationship with Overstreet Law Group, LLC is formed unless a person enters into a written representation agreement with the firm.)