Your business name is more than just a label: it’s your brand identity, your first impression, and one of your most valuable intellectual property assets. Yet, many small business owners and home-based entrepreneurs overlook the importance of protecting it. Without the proper safeguards in place, another business could legally claim a name that’s confusingly similar—or even identical—to yours, potentially undermining your reputation, customer trust, and long-term growth.
One of the most effective ways to secure your business name is through a trademark. A trademark not only helps establish ownership and legal rights but also gives you the exclusive ability to use your name within your industry and market. Despite these benefits, the trademark process is often misunderstood or dismissed as too complicated or expensive.
To shed light on the importance of trademarks for small businesses, we spoke with Shannon Moore, General Manager of TradeMark Express . In this interview, Moore shares expert insights into why trademarks matter, how much it costs to protect your name, and what every entrepreneur should know before filing an application.
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Why Every Small Business Should Protect Its Name
Small businesses are often resource-strapped, and many do not think about protecting their own business name. Why should a small business protect its business name?
Shannon Moore: Regardless of the size of a business, the name is the “face” of the business. The name is the focal point of all the benefits and features that relate to your products and/or services. It’s how customers come to know you and, perhaps more importantly, remember you. Protecting a business name ensures that when customers look for you, they find you and not your competitor with the same or similar name.
First Steps: How to Legally Protect a Business Name
What are the steps needed to protect a business name?
The first step is to ensure that the business name is legally available. No matter the size of a business, it’s the owner’s responsibility to ensure that the name they’re using is legally available. If it is clear and if you want to, filing for a trademark is the second step. Now I say, if you want to, because it’s not mandatory or even necessary for all businesses to file for a trademark. In fact, most businesses in the US do not have a registered trademark. However, there are several important advantages to owning a trademark on your business name, which I’ll explain in detail in a bit.
How Much Does It Cost to Trademark a Business Name?
What are the expenses associated with protecting a business name?
Like I mentioned, the first step is to ensure that the business name is legally available. This involves having comprehensive research conducted. Comprehensive research consists of looking for marks that are similar in sound, appearance or meaning in the pending & registered Federal and State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files.
To access these thousands of databases, the cost is typically $1-$5 a minute wholesale, which means that you should expect to pay anywhere from $300-$500 for a comprehensive search. This information should tell you what databases were searched, how your business name was searched and what it all means.
The fees for a trademark are dependent on what type of trademark you need, Federal or State. A Federal trademark is $325 per International Classification. State trademarks vary from state to state but they run anywhere from $10 to $125 per International Classification.
I should explain quickly what International Classifications (IC hereafter) are — all products and services are categorized according to class. There are 45 classes total and each type of product/service has its own class. For instance, clothing is in IC 25, marketing & advertising is in IC 35, etc. The International simply means that this is the classification system used by trademark offices the world over; it does not denote international protection.
What Does the ™ Symbol Really Protect?
Do you really need to file with the USPTO to protect your business name, or will putting a TM sufficient enough? What does a TM really do?
The ™ or SM symbol is to be used for marks that either have a pending trademark application OR for marks that are simply claiming the rights to the mark. Every business should use the TM symbol in that it asserts your claims to the mark. However, it does not provide any significant protection.
Every business has Common-Law rights to the name, provided that no other business has prior trademark or Common-Law rights. This means that as long as you were the first to use the name then, typically, no one can take those rights away from you. However, the hitch with Common-Law rights is that it’s restricted by trade area. This means that your rights to the name extend only to the areas in which you’ve made actual sales.
This is a big reason many business owners opt to trademark their name on a national level. Again, it’s not mandatory to file for a Federal trademark but there are several advantages that are relevant to the small business owner:
- The right to use the ® symbol to demonstrate Federally registered ownership of your name
- A legal presumption to the name as well as nationwide exclusive rights to the name as it’s used to identify your products and/or services
- Establishing brand identity, which is an asset for every business
When Is the Right Time to Trademark a Business Name?
At what point should small businesses take steps to start thinking about getting their name trademarked? Should they do it during the startup phase while they are registering their business? Or should they do it when they already know that the business works and income is starting to come in?
This varies from business to business. Here are a couple of key questions to consider when making that decision:
- How important is your business name to you? Now, I know I stressed earlier how the business name is the focal point of your business but in terms of filing for a trademark, the stature of the name can vary from business to business. The importance of brand recognition weighs differently from industry to industry. For instance, the personality of a clothing line is heavily dependent upon the name and therefore, brand recognition and name protection are going to be very important.
- How big is your business going to be? Of course, everyone says, “well, as big as it can possibly be,” right? While you can never be 100% sure of the eventual size of your business, you no doubt have plans in mind. Are you considering franchising? Do you intend to sell to multiple states? What about outside of the US? Will you be selling online?
- Is your name unique & distinctive? Or is it generic & descriptive? Typically, names that are generic, descriptive or geographic do not qualify for trademark protection.
- Names that are descriptive of their industries – SHOE STORE for a shoe store
- Names that are generic – aspirin, bikini & escalator all used to be trademarks…now they’re just generic terms
- Names that are geographic – CALIFORNIA DAYCARE for a daycare located in California
How to Avoid Lawsuits Over Business Name Conflicts
There are many instances when small businesses are sued because their business names are so similar to trademarked names. How can businesses avoid this problem? What do you suggest they do when they are starting to think of their business names?
From the outset, the small business owner should make certain that the name they want to use is legally available. This cannot be stressed enough. The expense in ensuring the name is available is far less than the costs associated with having to go through a name change, never mind the costs associated with a lawsuit. There is no point in investing your time, money or effort into a name that is not legally available to you.
The naming of your business could be one of the most important business decisions you make. In deciding upon a name, keep the following in mind:
- Your industry: What types of names are being used in your industry? What do you like and not like about these names? What is your business’ identity?
- Your short and long term goals: Don’t limit yourself based on geography or product lines in the event that you expand your scope.
- Your customers: You want customers to remember you, so keep it memorable, pronounceable and preferably, easily spelled.
Does a U.S. Trademark Protect Your Name Globally?
When a small business files a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), does that protect their business name only within the US? Is it possible for a small business to protect their name from use in another part of the globe, or will the cost be too prohibitive?
Correct, a Federal trademark extends to the US only. However, a Federal trademark registration can be used as a basis to obtain registration in other countries. Filing for trademarks in other countries is really only relevant if you are currently selling or intend to sell in those countries. It’s all about your customers. If you’re selling to customers in the US, how relevant is it really to you that a similarly named business is selling only in Russia or Japan or New Zealand?
Is State Trademark Filing Necessary After USPTO Registration?
After you’ve submitted your trademark application with the USPTO, do you need to file with the state?
Not at all. Filing with the USPTO grants you trademark protection throughout the entire country. Some businesses do opt also to file State trademarks as the respective State governments are a lot quicker with the filing process than the Federal government.
How to Maintain and Enforce a Trademark Long-Term
After registering a name, how can a small business maintain that trademark and uphold the value of the company or product name?
There are no trademark police. It’s every applicant’s responsibility to protect their trademark. For instance, Google ® has gone to great lengths to be certain to let writers, editors, et al, know that their trademarked name is not a verb (e.g. you use the search engine Google ® but you do not Google ® for something). The small business owner should have this same mentality though, of course, will be operating on a much easier to manage level.
To protect your trademark, have comprehensive research conducted every 2-3 years to look for infringers. If infringers do pop up, contact a trademark attorney and start discussing cease & desist letters.
To upkeep your trademark, pay attention to dates! There are forms and renewals that must be filed to keep your trademark active. For State trademarks, this is typically every 5 years or every 10 years. Of course, check with your state to be sure. For Federal trademarks, the first deadline is at the 5 year mark. The first renewal is at the 10 year mark and then every 10 years. You can keep your trademark indefinitely as long as you pay attention to those dates.
Final Tips for Choosing and Protecting a Business Name
Do you have any other advice on protecting business names?
Whether your business is citywide, statewide or nationwide, your name is likely to be an important, if not the most important, facet of your business. You are essentially protecting your market upon registering a trademark by publicly individualizing your name. This protection allows a greater piece of mind for the average business owner, by ensuring that no one may interfere with your customer base by confusing their business with your own.
Definitely have comprehensive research conducted but prior to doing so, take advantage of the free resources that are out there. When conducting preliminary research, look for the exact name but also look for any names that are similar in Sound, Appearance or Meaning. This means looking for spelling variations (e.g., PH for F, Y for I, K for C, etc.), synonyms (e.g., if your name contains the word EXPRESS, also look for fast, quick, speedy, etc.) and word placement (e.g., if you’ve got more than one word in your business name, flip flop them around).
Here are recommended resources:
- USPTO – Preliminary Search of Federal trademarks https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search
- http://www.hoovers.com/free/
- http://www.thomasnet.com – Must register (free) to search their database
This article was first published on January 10, 2007 and updated on July 19, 2025
