A jewellery brand, just like any other artistic business, involves creativity. Anyone who has ever purchased or desired a jewellery item knows that there is fierce competition in this market to stand out as a unique and high-end brand. The brand name itself becomes a symbol of status and prestige.
Therefore, protecting the name through trademark registration should be the priority of anyone who starts a jewellery business. In this way, a brand is protected from causing confusion in the market and also from infringement.
If you are someone who has plans to start a jewellery business or already have one and are looking to acquire intellectual property protection, then this blog is your guide. In this blog, you will learn about the four important steps for trademark registration of a jewellery brand.
Steps to Register the Trademark of a Jewellery Brand
Step 1: Identify which parts of your jewellery brand you can trademark.
The most obvious one on the list is your brand name. A brand name could be anything – words, phrases, numbers, or a combination of all of these. So long as the name is unique, distinctive, and isn’t just a generic description, you can register it as a trademark. For instance, a brand having the name “Shiny Rings” would never be able to successfully register under the trademark law because the name is descriptive and common in the field of the jewellery business. Claiming such a term exclusively for your business would result in futile efforts.
In addition to the brand name, you can include other parts of your business in the trademark list. For instance, if your brand has a logo alongside the name, then you can register it as a standalone mark. The law also allows protection/registration of unique aspects of the products such as their designs, their packaging and the way it is used for presentation purposes.
Trademark law now also has a provision which allows for registering the design features of your jewellery as “trade dress“. This means that if the overall look of the design (and not the individual components) conveys uniqueness, it can be trademarked.
Step 2: Conduct a trademark search to ensure that the design is unique to your brand
The process is lengthy and you might have to conduct this exercise multiple times to come up with an original design. Essentially, you need to look out for the following aspects when choosing a distinct trademark:
- Ensure that the name chosen for your jewellery brand is not already taken up by another brand as this would confuse the consumers who might mistake or associate another brand with yours.
- You also have to ensure that the logo used in your business name (if any) is distinct and does not have a similar appearance to an already registered or claimed logo.
- If you plan on trademarking your trade dress elements, conduct a separate search for them. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) assigns codes to the elements of a design which can be used to search for trademarks that are not in the form of a ‘text’.
Step 3: Register the trademark application with the USPTO
Once the preliminary steps have been completed, the next step in this ladder is filling out the appropriate trademark forms and submitting them to the USPTO. The type of application and the supporting documents you need to submit will depend on what you are aiming to trademark. If you only plan to trademark the brand’s name, then you will submit the name in a “plain text” format. You will also have to provide ‘proof of use’ for the name such as on jewellery cases or other packaging.
However, if you wish to trademark a logo or a stylized version of the brand name, then you will have to attach examples of these in your application. The same is required for the “trade dress” registration. You have to describe the trade dress in detail and accompany your application with illustrations or photographs. It is mandatory to comply with all the requirements of the application as set out by the USPTO as failure in this regard can result in potential delays, or worse, a rejection.
Step 4: Regularly check on the status of your application
The time frame for the approval of a trademark application is typically six to eight months after submission, and even more if the USPTO requires additional information or issues an office action. The timeframe is lengthy, therefore, it is highly recommended to start early with the filing process. After the submission of the application, it is reviewed by the USPTO’s examining attorney who confirms that the mark is not conflicting with an existing trademark, either intentionally or mistakenly. If the process takes more than eight months, then check on its status. Often there are certain requirements of the trademark office which have to be fulfilled before the application is proceeded to the next stage.
After your jewellery brand’s name is approved, you now have the responsibility to protect and enforce your ownership in case someone in the market infringes on it.
Hiring the Legal Services of an experienced Trademark Attorney
In this blog, we have enumerated and simplified the key steps to register the trademark for a jewellery brand, however, the process is rife with complications as it proceeds to the later stages. The trademark search can become confusing as you delve deeper into the exercise. Even if this is not the case, the other issue is that the search tools provided on the USPTO website are not sufficient for a thorough search. Similarly, the office actions issued by the examining attorneys demand careful and appropriate responses.
At a minimal budget, you can delegate all these tasks to an experienced trademark attorney who would take it upon themselves to ensure a professional completion of registering the trademark for your jewellery brand. For this, you don’t have to go far. At Drishti Law, we would be happy to schedule a discovery call with you and provide you with legal advice suitable for protecting your jewellery brand and discuss a plan customized to your brand’s needs.
Sahil Malhotra
Sahil Malhotra is an Intellectual Property Attorney, who founded Drishti (“vision”) law because of his vision in protecting dreams and ideas.
He provided individuals and small businesses with an opportunity to enhance their IP’s value by helping them register trademarks and successfully argue against office actions. In addition to his training and experience, he has been deeply involved in the multifaceted IP portfolio at UIC and continues to be associated with IP organizations and conferences.
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