Best way to trademark a word?

[ashley]

I'm trying to trade mark a couple of words and I'm looking for some reliable sites to do it. Do y'all have any recommendations of websites that you have trademarked with or know that they will work? Thanks!

[A Hunch]

If you are in the US, the only place you can trademark is at the US patent & trademark office (http://www.uspto.gov).

If your words are common words, it's unlikely that you will be able to trademark them. For example: The shoe company, Chinese Laundry, has not been successful at getting a registered trademark and Nike can't trademark "just do it".

[bcnu]

You cannot "trademark a word". You can, however, use a word as a trademark on particular goods or services offered in commerce, thus automatically making it a trademark. Registration is completely optional.

However, once you have created a trademark, by using it in commerce, you can optionally register it in one or more US states or in the federal USPTO. State registration is usually much faster and cheaper than USPTO. The rules are similar, regarding whether your word mark qualifies as a brand, whether you are the first to claim it, and whether your proof of actual use meets their criteria.

It is completely false that "the only place you can trademark is at the US patent & trademark office".

You can/should do a preliminary search of various state and federal databases to see what similar brands people are already using in related fields as the one you intend to protect, but you also need to consider the non-registered trademark rights others may already have that are also enforceable in state or federal courts.

FYI: Nike actually owns NUMEROUS registrations in the USPTO for "JUST DO IT" applied in multiple categories of goods and services, and has since 1989.
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=738291...atusSearch

"Common words" and combinations of common words are frequently used as trademarks as well as company names. Ever heard of Apple, Ford, Staples, Amazon, Home Depot, Green Giant, Caterpillar, Tuna Helper??