A trademark is a protected sign that identifies your goods or services and separates them from others: a name, a logo, a slogan, sometimes a sound or colour. Registration gives you the right to stop competitors from using a confusingly similar sign in the classes and territory you registered.
Trademarks are registered for specific goods and services, sorted into 45 numbered classes. A registration for software in class 9 does not protect you against a bakery using the same name in class 30. Protection is also territorial: a registration in one country or region gives you no rights in another.
An example calculation, with figures you should replace with the fee schedule of your own office. Suppose the basic fee for one class is 300 and each additional class costs 100. Registering in three classes costs 300 + 100 + 100 = 500. If you want the same three classes in a second territory at the same rates, budget 1,000 in official fees, plus any attorney costs. Protection usually lasts ten years and can be renewed as often as you like, as long as you pay and keep using the mark.
Search before you register. Check the trademark registers of your target markets, plus company registers and domains. Finding a conflict costs you an hour. Renaming after a warning letter costs your printed material, your domain, your app store listing, and your search rankings.
Two misunderstandings are common. First, founders believe the symbol R in a circle can be used freely. In many countries it may only be used for a registered mark, while the symbol TM signals a claim without registration. Second, founders pick a name that describes the product, such as Fresh Coffee for coffee. Descriptive terms are hard to register, because an office will not give one company a monopoly on ordinary words. Invented names register more easily. Practice differs by country, so check where you file.
