One of the biggest questions I get from businesses is why they should invest in getting a trademark registration. A recent donut debate shows the importance of protecting your brand. The Holy Donut in Maine received its federal trademark registration in 2016 (Registration number 5057631). While it is located exclusively in Maine right now, the company has enforced its trademark against businesses across the country. One way it has done so is to enter into a coexistence agreement if the infringing company is not located in New England. Doing so allows the other company to still use the name but Read More
Category: entrepreneur
COVID19 Legal Issues for the Horse Community
Click HERE for the free e-book. Are you concerned about the legal issues surrounding COVID19 and your horse business or personal horses? I have written an e-book entitled “Horse People, Don’t Panic: COVID19 Legal Issues for the Horse Community.” It’s a free PDF download, and you are encouraged to share it in its entirety and let others know they can download it here. You will learn about legal issues concerning liability, horse care if you get sick, equine estate planning, and contracts during these difficult times. This is an educational service of Windhorse Legal, PLLC, and does not constitute legal Read More
Brand Your Company
You know that the reputation of your business can mean the difference because success and failure. In this blog entry, I am going to explain how registering your trademark is an important way to protect your professional reputation. If you don’t protect your brand, someone can use your name, logo, or slogan, and you can’t stop them. Someone could also use your name, logo, or slogan and hurt your business by doing disreputable business. Two Trainers, One Stolen Logo I once knew someone – we’ll call her Sally – who moved cross country after riding with a trainer – we’ll Read More
An Office Action
Many people are under the mistaken impression that once they file their trademark registration for their equine business, it is automatically approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). That is not the case. The USPTO can deny the trademark for many different reasons. Some are simple and easy to fix, and some are substantive. What is an office action, and what should you do when you get one? What is an Office Action? The USPTO considers many factors when determining whether a trademark should be approved for registration. The foundation of those factors is that the trademark Read More
The Trouble with Photos
I don’t know about you but one of the fun things about owning a horse business is that I get to look through interesting photos whenever I put together material for my website or social media. There are literally millions of photos online to look at. Really. I just did a Google search for “horse image,” for example, and got 1,990,000,000 results in .52 seconds. I could just download any number of photos for my website and social media accounts, right? Wait. Whoa. Not so fast. Did you read the viral story about the hipster? Yes, this does connect to Read More