Now is the age of the transformative business. Crafting a brand for your business makes it easier for you to sell goods and services, even if it is not your full-time job. However, there are strict use laws around the names and icons that businesses can use for their branding. You have to comply with these laws or risk the legitimacy of your business.

Determining what marks are off-limits and how you can protect your own intellectual property takes time. Fortunately, a New Jersey brand development lawyer can break this process down for you. As you brainstorm branding ideas for your business, you can discuss the marks available to you with a business formation attorney who has your best interests in mind. A legal advocate could walk you through the process of trademarking any branding ideas that you want to make your own.

What is Legal Brand Development?

Building a business from the ground up requires a lot of legwork. Interested parties have to establish their finances, craft a business plan, and declare their business entities before reaching out to consumers. Brand development is part of this process, meaning that it has its own legal concerns to address.

Brand development, more specifically, involves the process of legally protecting one’s intellectual property without violating the rights of other business owners currently or previously in operation.

Building a Brand

If an aspiring restaurateur wants to establish their own business, they must advertise their wares. This advertising requires the individual first to trademark their restaurant’s name and then brainstorm any iconography that they want to be affiliated with the outlet.

However, other businesses will have used their own ideas in their names and established iconographic trends. What is more, these parties will have protected their creations via trademarks. Therefore, the aspiring restaurateur should consider reaching out to brand counsel to brainstorm their business approach and formalize it.

The Brand and Trademarking Process

Experienced lawyers familiar with brand development can not only help interested parties in New Jersey bring their businesses to life, but they can fight to help those parties build unique and legally protected names for themselves.

Throughout the development process, parties looking to trademark an IP, license, trade secret, copyright, or another form of intellectual property are expected to take the following steps:

  • Find a legally recognized “mark” or concept that can be submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
  • Fill out a trademark application
  • Pay the office’s application fee
  • Communicate with a USPTO regarding any action taken by the office

Note that all interested parties are expected to submit their paperwork and office responses within a reasonable amount of time. Failure to communicate with a USPTO representative on that representative’s terms can see a request for trademark branding denied. A hardworking attorney in New Jersey could help an aspiring business owner develop and file their brand in a timely manner, provide guidance regarding USPTO regulations, and assist with any management concerns an individual might have.

Connect With a New Jersey Brand Development Attorney

If you have brand development concerns that you want to discuss with legal counsel, a New Jersey brand development lawyer can walk you through the process of establishing yourself in your industry. Whether you need help with name trademarking, patents, or licensing for specific machines or images, a member of the team can help you get your paperwork in order. Call today to schedule a consultation.