We Stop The Competition
From Raiding Your Business.
STEP #1: Educate & Enroll
Free and No Obligation.
Let's get on the same page.
Time to Complete: Less than 1 Minute.
Just like your customers, your brand also has unique needs. After enrolling, we educate each other.
First we learn about you, your business and the goals you have for your brand. Second, you'll learn about the registration process via our proprietary video library and Action-Sheets.
STEP #2 Evaluate
Trademark searches empower us to craft a smart plan.
Time to Complete: 2-7 Days.
Second, we cut-through the lawyer-speak and outline your options in plain English.
When finished, you will have explored what we call "the Two Big Questions":
1. Can You Even Use It? and
2. Can You Own the Rights to It?
More importantly, you'll have a plan you have confidence in.
STEP #3: Equip
Putting your plan into action.
Time to Complete: 2+ Days.
We implement your plan, which typically begins with filing trademark applications. It may also include an Amazon Branding program or Shopify Branding program. If you have immediate needs for enforcement or take-down notices, those start as well.
When complete, your applications are pending.
STEP #4: Examine
The Trademark Office and the Public scrutinize your Application.
Time to Complete: 9 - 24 Months.
It begins with an Office Examination by an Examining Attorney (the "EA"). The EA registers rejections and objections in letters called Office Actions. You must respond to these correctly to keep your application alive. Once (and if) the EA believes that your application is in order, the mark is Published.
Next, the public has the opportunity to examine your mark by registering "Opposition" to your mark's registration. Here's where preparation really pays off, because carelessly filed applications can trigger unnecessary Opposition Proceedings, and these proceedings can be lengthy, and expensive.
STEP #5: Enforce
Building your defenses.
Time to Complete: Ongoing for the Life of the Registration.
Step 5 is a journey of a thousand miles.
After you have secured your registration, under US Trademark Law, to keep it and strengthen it you must 'police it.' Policing is a fancy way of saying that you can't just let anyone use your mark, and it involves four activities:
- monitoring databases and the internet to spot potential infringers
- notifying the likely infringers that you have a registered mark
- telling the competitor-infringers to stop using your mark (to 'cease and desist)
- if necessary, litigating to force compliance with the law
My Story
I Have Over 15 Years of Experience in The Industry
Unlike most attorneys, I’m an entrepreneur — some say a successful entrepreneur. And as much as I enjoy the thought that these colleagues may be right, I certainly wasn’t always a successful entrepreneur. My first shots at starting businesses in college resulted in abandoned patent applications, zero sales and debt (not to mention late homework and shoddy lab assignments). Later, I learned hard lessons as people I trusted blatantly stole my inventions, and suppliers I trusted failed to deliver products. And, through my experience at a large law firm as well as in my own law practice, I’ve seen just about every kind of chicanery imaginable.
What our clients saying
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Larry Davis
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JT Moore
We Stop The Competition From Raiding Your Business.
We Register, Enforce and Defend Your Trademarks With Our Exclusive Trademark Process.
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Trademark Portfolio ManagementTrademark Portfolio Management is a little bit different than strategy. Because in Portfolio Management we narrow the...
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Trademark Enforcement: Notices and Cease and Desist So what can you do if you discover that someone is stealing your customers by using your...
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Looking to Locate Your Business in MD? Here's Why Bethesda Is A Great Choice!
Bethesda, MD is a Great Place to Grow your Business
When it comes to business, the nation’s capital is at the center of the action. For business owners in a high-profile town like Bethesda, Maryland, you are the intersection of business and government. Establishing or growing your business in a tightly competitive and high-profile environment has its perks and advantages. For example, The Trademark Office in Alexandria, VA in the Capital region gives you advantages when it comes time to secure your trademark.
In fact, one of the most high-profile trademark cases currently wending its way through the courts has its home in the D.C. area. The Washington Redskins football team, whose stadium is located at FedEx Field in Landover, MD, has been challenged by Native Americans charging six logos and names owned by the Redskins are offensive and should be cancelled proving at once the importance of defending your valuable trademarks.
Bethesda is one of the most desirable addresses in the D.C. metro area with many local and national media and entertainment celebrities setting down roots here. It is consistently listed in Top 10 rankings for livability, health, wealth and education. It has experienced much of its growth in recent decades with many residential and commercial developments making Bethesda a major employment center in its own right as well as a close suburb to the District.
The opening of commuter rail service to Bethesda spurred commercial and business development in the 1980s. Today, local commuters are served by two Washington Metro train stops and will soon have access to light rail service under construction as part of the Maryland Transit Administration’s Purple Line. Travelers have easy access to three large airports, Reagan National Airport, Dulles International Airport and Baltimore Washington International Airport. The area is also served by major interstate highways and a well-developed local highway system, including I-95 and its ring roads – or Capital Beltway – surrounding the city. Interstate 95 connects the east coast from Maine to Florida and passes through the major cities of Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, and all the way to Palm Beach and Miami. The Amtrak passenger rail service including business class also traverses the east coast connecting D.C. to major cities from Boston to Miami.
Want Help Growing Your Business? These Organizations Can Help!
Growing a Business in Bethesda
In this strong pro-business metro area next to the seat of national power, Bethesda is home to government and industry offices for many types of businesses. Some major companies based here include:
The Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce connects business owners to other entrepreneurs from nearby Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Potomac, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Silver Spring, Washington D.C., Prince George’s County and areas in northern Virginia.
Does McKinney Have Access to World-Class Universities? You Bet!
- Professional and Executive Education in Bethesda
Bethesda is the best educated city in the U.S. with a population over 50,000. Half of its residents have post-graduate degrees. Locally, residents have access to Montgomery College, a community college with its main campus in Rockville and satellite campuses in Silver Spring/Takoma Park and Germantown. Also in Rockville, the Universities at Shady Grove is a consortium of 9 colleges including many from the University of Maryland system as well as Towson, Bowie and Salisbury universities and the University of Baltimore offering third- and fourth-year undergraduate classes and graduate degrees. In the extended metro area, educational opportunities abound with American University, Georgetown University and the University of Virginia within commuting distance.
These programs in particular may be of interest to you as a businessperson:
Bethesda's Not a Boring Suburb! Enjoy These Theatrical Productions, Orchestra, Railroad Tracks and World-class Healthcare Options:<br />
Arts, Entertainment and Culture in Bethesda
Bethesda supports the cutting edge in the arts, theater and entertainment. The Round House Theater has been a mainstay of serious theatrical productions with ensemble acting and lifelong learning for professionals. Strathmore is home to the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. For health and wellness enthusiasts, the Capital Crescent Trail which runs along the old B&O railroad tracks is an amenity for runners, walkers, hikers and bikers. Bethesda also lays claim to what some say is the most exclusive country club in the country, the Congressional Country Club.
Bethesda is known for its world-class healthcare as the site of the National Institutes of Health which drives much of the nation’s health research, as well as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where presidents, dignitaries and heads of state receive care.
Thrasher Trademark Law Can Secure Your Business and Brand in Bethesda, MD
Trademark attorney Steven Thrasher has been serving clients in the Washington D.C. area — including Bethesda, MD — and across the nation since 2002. In that time, our lawyers have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs escape the competitive pressures of commodity businesses. In addition to filing trademark applications, Steve solves intellectual property problems related to federal administrative issues involving trademarks, patents, copyrights, and infringements.