What Can You Trademark: The List of Everything you Can Trademark in Your Business, From a Trademark Lawyer

A common misconception that I hear all the time as a trademark lawyer is that you can only trademark your business name and logo. And while those are, of course, important to do, there’s so much more that can be done to protect your business and its assets.

If you’re wondering what you can trademark, see my full guide, as a trademark lawyer who spends a lot of time protecting businesses. 

What You Can Trademark in Your Business: The Overview

Here’s everything that you should consider registering for a trademark in your business: 

Your business name

Your business name is one of the most important things to trademark, because it’s the defining point of your brand. It also gives you the broadest protection as opposed to protecting the visual element of a trademark (i.e., a design/logo). You can see step-by-step how to register that trademark here. 

Logos

Any sort of logo design specific to your brand can be trademarked as a distinctive mark for your brand, and many growing businesses do this to protect their visual brand identity. Think Nike’s “swoosh” or McDonald’s golden arches. 

Slogans

Using Nike again as an example, you can trademark slogans that you use in your brand like “Just do it.” Another example of this is KFC’s “Finger lickin’ good” or Jimmy John’s “Freaky fast.” 

Product or service names

If you have specific, recognizable product or service names – think “iPhone” or “iMac” – those can be registered, too. You can also register a course name for your digital products.

Color schemes

Certain colors, as long as they represent your brand, can be trademarked. For example, Tiffany’s has “Tiffany blue” as a trademarked color. 

Packaging designs

Lastly, elements like packaging designs can be trademarked. Graphic designs can be a part of a business’s property, and packaging plays a role in that. A package design can potentially be protected as a trademark, but the protection usually falls under trade dress law, which is a type of trademark protection for the overall look and feel of a product or its packaging.

What Determines What You Can Trademark? 

The criteria for an element being trademarked includes that it is distinctive, original, and is a source identifier. Typically, trademarks won’t be approved if the element is too generic or too descriptive, but that’s something I’m always here to help you with as a trademark attorney.

What Can You Not Trademark? 

There are a few things that cannot be trademarked in your business, and those include: 

• Misleading information – anything that is false or decepts people about your products or services

• Generic terms – for example, you can’t trademark the term “bread” for a computer brand

• Anything that is the same as or too similar to a previously registered trademark – you can always check registered trademarks here, but anything that could be too similar to or confused with something else will not be approved

Why Should You Register Trademarks in Your Business Anyway? 

If you want to avoid the headaches of rebranding, missing out on business opportunities, and even lawsuits, you’ll want to consider seeking trademark registration. You can see the full guide on why registering your business (and its assets) is important here! 

How a Trademark Lawyer Can Help 

As a trademark lawyer, I know all the ins, outs, and caveats to registering business trademarks. When you go into these things with a DIY mindset, it can cause bigger problems later on. Investing in someone who knows how to create a strong application, how to handle any legal challenges, and knows every step of the process like the back of her hand is a key step. And if that’s the kind of support you’re looking for, I’d love to be on your team. 

Schedule a call here, and we’ll chat about what needs to happen for your business to be fully protected, in every aspect.