Can you patent a word

Last Update: Jan 03, 2023

This is a question our experts keep getting from time to time. Now, we have got the complete detailed explanation and answer for everyone, who is interested!

Asked by: Prof. Wilmer Marquardt DVM

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While you can learn how to patent an idea here, unfortunately, it is not possible to patent a phrase. Instead, you can trademark a phrase by registering it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Can you copyright a phrase?

Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. … However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark.

Do you copyright or patent a phrase?

The three main types of IP protection are: Copyrights — original literary and artistic works. Trademarks — original phrases, logos, brand names, etc. Patents — an invented product or process.

Should I trademark a phrase?

Is it Worth it to Trademark a Phrase? If you are using a catch phrase, tag line, or sales line with your goods or services, then yes, it is almost always worth it to trademark that phrase if it is available.

What phrases Cannot be trademarked?

What Can’t Be Trademarked?

42 related questions found

You cannot obtain a copyright registration for one word. Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. A copyright only exists for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. So if you have invented a word, you cannot claim it as your own word that no one else can use.

Can you trademark a made up word?

Made-up words are usually considered to be very strong and protectable trademarks, as the words will have no meaning or context outside of branding or marketing your product or service.

No. Names are not protected by copyright law. Some names may be protected under trademark law. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, [email protected] or see Circular 33 “Copyright Protection Not Available for Names, Titles, or Short Phrases”.

Is something you create automatically copyrighted?

Copyright protects your work and stops others from using it without your permission. You automatically get copyright protection when you create: original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, including illustration and photography. original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and databases.

How do I trademark a word for free?

You can not register a trademark for free. However, you can establish something known as a “common law trademark” for free, simply by opening for business. The benefit of relying on common law trademark rights is that it’s free, and you don’t need to do any specific work filling out forms, etc.

Can you patent a word or phrase?

The short answer is no, you cannot patent a phrase. Patent law does not offer protection to an inventor of a phrase. However, you can protect your phase under trademark law by trademarking it with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office).

How do you own rights to a word?

When you trademark a word, you give a person or company exclusive rights to connect one brand with that word. You can trademark a word that identifies your company or your products. Register your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to protect your trademark throughout the United States.

Do I trademark or copyright a name?

A trademark represents your brand or product. Names, logos, and slogans are common trademarks. A copyright, on the other hand, protects a work of authorship, including books, paintings, and even computer code. To ensure intellectual property is protected, work with your attorney to obtain a federal registration.

Can I trademark a name without a business?

There’s no legal requirement for you to register a trademark. Using a business name can give you ‘common law’ rights, even without formally registering it. However, as expected, trademark law is quite complex.

Which works are not protected by copyright?

Titles, names, short phrases, slogans Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans are not protected by copyright law. To be protected by copyright, a work must contain at least a minimum amount of authorship in the form of original expression.

How can I copyright something free?

If you want to register your copyright, you must complete an application online or by mail with the United States Copyright Office. The easiest and most efficient way to register is online. To complete an online application, log in to the eCO website.

Can you lose a copyright if you don’t protect it?

This is a common — and harmful — myth that may keep creators from sharing their work. In fact, you cannot lose your copyright if people copy your work — no matter how much it is copied. You also can’t lose your copyright if you don’t defend it.

What words Cannot be trademarked?

What Can’t Be Trademarked?

• Proper names or likenesses without consent from the person.
• Generic terms, phrases, or the like.
• Government symbols or insignia.
• Vulgar or disparaging words or phrases.
• The likeness of a U.S. President, former or current.
• Immoral, deceptive, or scandalous words or symbols.
• Sounds or short motifs.

Can you trademark a phrase on a T shirt?

Yes, you can trademark a t-shirt. You can trademark a name, logo, or slogan that appears on your t-shirts. You may register a trademark for any materials that identify and promote your particular goods and services. For example, the “NIKE” name and logo, as they appear on t-shirts, are registered trademarks.

Do I need to copyright my logo?

Is a logo subject to copyright? Yes. A logo that includes artistic or design elements, (i.e. not just the name on its own), is legally regarded as being a work of artistic creation and therefore will be protected under copyright law. Copyright protects the logo as an artistic work.

Updated September 6, 2021:

Do you want to learn more about how to trademark a word? This involves registering a single word as a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A trademark is a word, phrase, sign, symbol, or logo used to identify a product’s owner. Trademarks give exclusive rights to a person or company to use a specific mark within an industry.

What Is a Trademark?

Any design, logo, symbol, name, or word that distinguishes a product or service from those offered by its competitors is a trademark. If you own a trademark, you can prevent others from using it. The benefit of having a trademark is that it represents your brand and over time may come to stand for quality. Someone with similar goods or services can’t use the same trademark.

You own a trademark if you are the first to use it in commerce, even if the word or mark in question is not registered.

What Are the Benefits of Registering a Trademark?

First, you file for a trademark application. Many trademark owners wonder whether they should go through the trouble of federal registration. These are some of the main advantages of the application process:

• If you are seeking legal remedy for infringement and the trademark is registered, the defendant must bear the burden of proof.
• Other companies using similar trademarks in other states cannot claim territorial rights. State trademarks provide protection only in your state, a concern in the increasingly global marketplace.
• Federal trademark registration can be used to apply for trademark protection in other countries.
• If infringement occurs, you can litigate in federal court.
• Others will be deterred from using the mark.
• You may use the federal registration symbol.
• Your trademark will be listed in the USPTO’s online database.

When you trademark a word, you give a person or company exclusive rights to connect one brand with that word. You can trademark a word that identifies your company or your products.

Register your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to protect your trademark throughout the United States. A trademark registration with the USPTO is a registered trademark and gets marked with the registered trademark (®) symbol.

You don’t have to register a word with the USPTO to get trademark status. A word is a trademark if that word identifies a brand, regardless of whether the word itself is registered. However, unregistered trademarks with the USPTO are only trademarked within the company’s geographical area. Trademark rights for an unregistered mark belong to the company that first used the mark. Use the trademark symbol (TM) for a trademark that isn’t registered with the USPTO.

Why Is Knowing How to Trademark a Word Important?

When you trademark a word, your competitors can’t use that word to identify their products. A trademark:

• Sets companies apart from one another
• Protects brand integrity
• Prevents unfair competition from customer confusion or deception

A trademark registration with the USPTO lets you take legal action against companies who unjustly use the mark. This application process helps with trademark protection. You can sue for damages, attorney fees, and court costs if someone illegally uses your trademark. This illegal use is a trademark infringement.

When you trademark a word, you don’t protect it from use in everyday speech use or informational material. A trademark also doesn’t stop industries that don’t compete with your business from using the word. By having a federal trademark registration with the government you obtain national trademark protection rather than a state law protection.

When Should You Trademark a Word?

If you come up with a good catch phrase, you may want to trademark it. It will be the first step to identify your goods and services.Trademark a word if it identifies your brand. You want to protect your brand and set your products apart from competitors’ products. It is your choice if you want to have your trademark protected under trademark law.

To obtain a trademark registration you must obtain it from the U.S patent and trademark. USPTO registration isn’t required for trademark status. However, a trademark gives you these benefits:

• Nationwide ownership
• Public notice of ownership
• Legal protection against infringement
• Use of the registered trademark symbol
• Listing in USPTO databases
• Ability to apply for trademark status in other countries

How Do You Create a Strong Trademark for a Word?

You need to have a strong word for your trademark. Made-up words and words that aren’t directly related to your product are the strongest words to trademark. Consider some word types when creating your trademark:

• Invented words: You can’t use these words in any context other than with your brand. For example, Adidas has no meaning other than the name of the company.
• Arbitrary words: Arbitrary words are words that exist but aren’t related to your product. An example of an arbitrary word trademark is bumblebee for Bumble Bee Seafood.
• Suggestive words: Suggestive words speak to a trait of your product but don’t directly refer to it. For example, the word Patagonia has no direct connection to outdoor clothing, but the word suggests imagery of outdoor adventures. Suggestive words are good trademarks, but they are less strong than invented or arbitrary words.
• Descriptive words: Descriptive words describe how you use a product. Descriptive words are difficult to trademark. An example of a descriptive word is Red Delicious for a type of apple.
• Generic words: Generic words that name a product can’t be trademarked. So while Apple Inc. can trademark Apple when talking about its products, a company that sells apples can’t trademark the name Apple.

Do a trademark search to ensure that it’s not in use.

How Do You Protect a Trademark for a Word?

When you trademark a word, you gain rights over the word. But you can lose the rights if you don’t protect your trademark. Trademark protection includes phrases, words, symbols, and sounds. So you should file a trademark application to protect your services.

1. Enforce Proper Usage

You should enforce proper capitalization and use of the registered trademark symbol wherever your trademarked word appears. If you don’t enforce proper use of your trademark, the word could become a generic name for the product. If a word becomes generic, you can lose the word’s trademark.

Dumpster is an example of a word that became generic and lost its trademark. Dempster Brothers created the word dumpster for their trash disposal brand. Over time, the word became a generic term for garbage containers.

Failure to enforce proper use of and attribution for your trademarked word, including trademark symbol usage, can also cause trademark dilution. Trademark dilution occurs when a trademarked word becomes less unique, gets adopted as a household name, or results from both situations. Your trademarked word could also get used in another industry. Dilution is only considered a type of trademark infringement for famous trademarks.

2. Protect Against Infringement

Infringement happens when a competitor illegally uses your trademarked word. File an infringement lawsuit to stop illegal use of your trademark. A lawsuit can result in an order for the competitor to stop using the trademark, to receive monetary damages, or both.

Stopping infringement protects your brand and prevents customer confusion. You should talk with a trademark lawyer before you file an infringement lawsuit.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What’s the difference between a trademark, a copyright, and a patent? What about a service mark (SM)?

Trademarks protect the words or symbols that identify a product. Patents protect the products themselves. Copyrights protect artistic and literary works. Patents and copyrights expire after a set term, but you can renew a trademark every 10 years if the word remains in use.

A service mark is similar to a trademark, but this mark identifies a service instead of a product. If your company provides a service, you may need a service mark instead of a trademark. Some marks are both service marks and trademarks. For example, the FedEx logo is a service mark for FedEx’s shipping services. When the logo appears on shipping supplies, it’s a trademark.

You can identify both USPTO-registered service marks and trademarks by the ® symbol. An unregistered service mark gets identified by SM rather than TM. The registration process for trademarks and service marks is the same.

• Can I trademark a common word? What about a catchphrase or a word on a T-shirt?

You can trademark some common words. If the word has an arbitrary relationship to the product being named, the word may qualify for a trademark.

You can trademark a catchphrase if you use the word for business and it isn’t a common phrase. For example, boxing announcer Michael Buffer trademarked «Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!» Since the catch phrase is for a business and doesn’t exist in everyday speech, it’s protected by a trademark.

You can trademark a word on a T-shirt if the word identifies the producer of the T-shirt. LACOSTE is a trademarked word that appears on T-shirts and identifies the T-shirt source.

• What words can’t be trademarked?

Words that don’t serve to identify the source of a product can’t be trademarked. Generic words, offensive words, and certain proper names can’t be trademarked. Words that are already trademarked for goods within the same industry can’t be trademarked.

• Should I trademark an entire logo, or should I trademark only the words?

Trademarking words is usually better than trademarking a logo. When you trademark a logo with words, you can only protect that exact logo. If the logo’s design changes, the new version isn’t protected. If the logo has both a symbol and words, you can only protect both parts as a unit. The symbol alone or words alone wouldn’t be trademarked unless registered separately.

If you trademark words alone, without any styling such as color or font, the words become trademarked no matter how they appear. It’s best to trademark the words, not the logo, as long as the words alone are unique enough to identify your brand. You can file a separate trademark application for the logo.

Steps to Trademark a Word: Trademark Application

1. Consult a trademark attorney. Trademarking a word is a complex process, so talk to a trademark attorney early in your planning. To find a lawyer with trademark experience, search the USPTO website for an attorney that has registered other trademarks.
2. Check for eligibility. Before you apply to trademark a word, make sure the word is available for trademarking. Search the USPTO Trademark Electronic Search System to see if that word is already trademarked. Since federal registration isn’t required, you should also search state databases, the internet, and other companies in your industry. Look for both exact matches and marks that are similar to one another.
3. Register domain names. While not required for trademarking a word, make sure that the domain name for your brand is available. The strongest brands are those that are consistent across platforms. Register .com, .net, and .org extensions.
4. Establish ownership. Once you’ve decided on the word you want to trademark, establish ownership of the mark. Begin using the word in branding and business. You’ll need to show the word’s connection to your business to register it as a trademark with the USPTO.
5. File an Intent to Use. You should file an Intent to Use application while you’re establishing ownership. This application states you intend to trademark a word, but first need time to use it. An Intent to Use reserves your right to trademark the word for six months. No one else can trademark the word with your Intent to Use on file. You can renew the Intent to Use every six months for up to 24 months.
6. File a Trademark Application. To register a trademark, you need to file a trademark application with the USPTO. You’ll need to give:
   • Your name and address
   • The word you want trademarked
   • A description of the product you want branded
   • The date the word was first used in commerce
   • An example of the word in use
7. Pay the filing fee. Trademarking a word requires a trademarking filing fee. This fee ranges from $225 to $400 and is not refundable. Protect your investment by working with a trademark attorney before filing.

In most cases, it will take about four to six months for your trademark application to be approved. At that point, a company who thinks that your registered mark is infringing on its existing trademark has 30 days to file an appeal. After that period ends, you’ll receive a certificate of registration in the mail.

You should seek the help of a trademark attorney before applying to trademark a word. Post your legal need through UpCounsel to get free custom quotes from the top 5% of trademark attorneys instantly. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies such as Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.