The Local Marketing Stack

Trademark

Zone 1 • Difficulty: • Initial Cost: $1000+

While it’s probably true that not every new business needs to file a trademark, we firmly believe that every new business should speak with a lawyer for at least an initial consultation before settling on a name.  The last thing you want to do is build a successful company only to find out you’ve infringed on someone’s trademark and be forced into years of legal battles or the headache of changing your name and branding later on.

A free tool from the federal government
The US Patent and Trademark Office maintains a public search engine that can be useful for a high-level overview of how crowded your prospective namespace is, but it’s no substitute for speaking with an expert.