Experienced Trademark Attorneys
Businesses work hard to establish their own unique identities and reputations, often referred to as their “goodwill” in an industry. Trademark law protects your identity in the market and protects against consumers confusing your business, goods and services with those of another or incorrectly assuming there is an association or endorsements between the companies. Trademarks – and their closely related cousins of service marks and trade dress – are some of the most common and important business assets. The most valuable intellectual property assets in the world are brands – world-famous marks.
At Coats & Bennett, PLLC, we assist businesses here in North Carolina and across the nation with establishing a strong and lasting mark and managing portfolios of brands. From brand selection to clearance to local and international registration and litigation, we are in the trenches every day helping clients build, defend and enforce their trademarks, service marks and trade dress.
What Are Trademarks?
Trademarks are one of the most common forms of intellectual property: It is your mark in the trade. Nearly every business, service and good sold has a name and develops at least some reputation among its consumers. A trademark is any word, name, symbol or device, or any combination thereof, used to identify and distinguish your product from those manufactured or sold by others. Even if the legal identity is unknown by consumers, the trademark tells them a lot about where the product comes from.
The trademark is generally synonymous with “goodwill.” A service mark is essentially the same thing as a trademark, but it is used in conjunction with services. For ease of reference, when people talk of “trademark” issues, they often intend to include “service marks” within the definition of “trademark,” which is consistent with how we use the terms in these explanations. The appearance of a product and/or the product packaging may also be a source indicator and is known as “trade dress.”
Why Coats & Bennett, PLLC?
Our attorneys have successfully filed more than 1,000 trademark registration applications for brands in a wide variety of industries in North Carolina and the United States. We have also protected the interests of countless clients in litigation, when other entities threatened their trademarks and thus their livelihoods.
If you have an idea or have already developed a brand and need our help protecting it, we invite you to contact Coats & Bennett, PLLC, where our attorneys maintain a 100 percent focus on protecting intellectual property. You can reach us online or call our office in Cary, North Carolina, at 800-575-1278.
