In the business world, it often takes a lot of time and money to build up a brand name to where it is recognizable, as well as, profitable. The same holds true whether the name belongs to a company, product or type of service. When it comes to protecting unique product inventions and the names that are associated with them, the inventor must take steps to file for legal protection with the appropriate government agency.
Now, when it comes to securing a patent for a unique product invention, you need to understand that a patent can only be filed for the actual product. In other words, you need to know how to patent a product. Patents do not protect a specific name for the invention. You will need to file for a unique trademark to protect a brand name. If that’s all you are looking for then you really have no use for information on how to patent a name.
What you really need to know is how to copyright a name and how to trademark a name. Fortunately, both a patent and a trademark application can be handled by the same U.S. agency. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is where you would go to take care of both of these tasks.
How To Patent A Name – Protect Your Brand
Having a cool and unique name for your new product will go a long way in making it how to patent a name memorable to the buying public. It takes a lot of creativity to come up with a unique name and this is why you want to have it legally protected from other competitors as explained in https://inspirationfeed.com/how-inventhelp-can-help-you-protect-your-invention/ article.
When a brand name isn’t protected, other people can invent similar products and simply stick your name onto it and steal all of those sales that rightfully belong to you. To avoid this unpleasant scenario, you can go to the USPTO and file for official trademark status. It is as close as you will get if you are looking for how to patent a name.
Keep in mind that generic terms that are commonly used cannot be trademarked. For instance, the word tissues cannot be trademarked, but BRAND NAME tissues can be. Now, what if your idea is a cool invention like the Pet Rock?
Can a rock be patented? No, a plain ole rock cannot be patented because there are a gazillion of them in the world. Okay, then how about the idea of the pet rock? Well, an idea can’t be patented either. Then how was the inventor of the original pet rock, Gary Dahl, able to make a million dollars off of his silly idea?
He came up with a unique way to patent the packaging of his idea of the pet rock. While anyone can grab a rock, paint it and call it a pet rock. Mr. Dahl is the one who thought of packaging rocks inside of a cardboard box with vented holes for the pet to breathe.
There was also some straw inside for the rock to sit on and an instruction manual that told the owner how to take care of their stony pet. The packaging is what is protected by copyright and a patent, so anyone who desires to sell the original pet rock exactly like Mr. Dahl, must pay him a licensing fee. The words “pet rock” by themselves were not original enough for Mr. Dahl to know how to patent a name.
How To Patent A Name – Be Original
Another way to come up with a unique name is to make a word up that doesn’t exist. I mean, what exactly is a Google? Why, it’s the trademarked name of a company you say. Yes, but before it was created, nobody else thought of this as having any kind of meaning. Now, it’s a name that’s recognized throughout the world.
If you have a brand worth protecting, a trademark is the way to go. You’ll only need to know how to patent a name if the brand is also a physical product as discussed in https://www.oddee.com/how-inventhelp-can-assist-new-inventors/.
