Selecting the right company name is crucial for any business startup. If the name has strong branding potential—gaining recognition quickly and conveying quality—it’s especially important to safeguard it. However, even if it’s simply to secure exclusive rights to your company name, protection is essential. This can be done by registering it in the commercial register or as a trademark, each providing different levels of protection.

Why should you protect your company name?

Protecting your company name is essential to secure the exclusivity of your business name and avoid legal disputes. A protected name grants you exclusive usage rights and strengthens your brand in the long run. The cost of protecting your company name depends on whether you register it in the commercial register or protect it as a trademark. In both cases, the investment is worthwhile to safeguard your business name from unauthorized use.

How to register a company name

Before launching your business, one of the first steps is to register your company name. If you’re starting a business as a sole proprietor or partnership and you want to use a name other than your personal name, you’ll need to file for a DBA (Doing Business As). This is essentially your business name for legal purposes, so choose one that reflects your company’s core mission or services. It’s also a good idea to check if the corresponding domain name is available for your website. If you already own a corporation or LLC and plan to do business under a different name, you’ll also need to file a DBA for that name.

Once you’ve chosen your DBA, you’ll need to register it with the Secretary of State in your state, either online or in person. The registration fee and the duration of the registration can vary by state. Typically, the fee ranges from $10 to $100, and the registration lasts for 5 years in most cases, though some states may offer longer periods (like 10 years). Check your state’s specific rules and fees at the Secretary of State website.

Registering a business name with the state does not grant you exclusive rights to the name. To protect your name from others using it, you’ll need to register a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This ensures that no one else can legally use your business name at the national level.

Tip

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How to register a trademark

The term “trademark” includes both a traditional trademark (for goods) and a service mark (for services). These typically consist of names, slogans, logos, designs, or symbols that distinguish your goods or services from those of competitors. This means that you can trademark the same company name you’ve registered, and you also have the option to select a slogan, an image, or the name of a popular product or service your company offers. Trademarks serve as indicators of intellectual property and can last as long as the owner continues to use them in commerce.

Registering a trademark establishes federal rights for your company. These rights grant the exclusive ability to use the trademark (with its corresponding goods and services) nationwide, along with a legal presumption of ownership. However, these rights can be challenged if someone else proves that their usage predates yours. This is why extensive research is critical before applying.

Federal trademark registration in the USA is handled by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Their website provides trademark guidelines, a search tool, and a fee guide. The typical cost for a federal trademark application is around $250 to $350, depending on the type of application. State trademarks can be more affordable but offer more limited protection and do not grant nationwide rights. You can find more information about state trademarks by contacting your local Secretary of State.

Once your trademark is accepted, it will be officially listed on the USPTO website, published in their Official Gazette (OG), and you will receive a registration certificate. Additionally, your trademark will be eligible to use the “®” symbol, which signifies nationwide exclusivity and quality. Your registration provides legal protection against anyone trying to register a trademark that is “confusingly similar” to yours. Furthermore, you can record your trademark with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which can help prevent the importation of infringing or counterfeit goods. Finally, registering your trademark at the federal level also opens the door to international trademark protection.

Is my trademark protected in a foreign country?

Simply put, a U.S. Trademark Registration does not protect your trademark in a foreign country. Trademarks are territorial, meaning that they must be registered in each country where you wish to seek protection.

However, if you have a trademark that is either registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or have an ongoing application with them, you may be able to extend your protection internationally through the Madrid Protocol. The Madrid Protocol allows U.S. trademark holders to file for trademark protection in any of the member countries by filing a single “International Application” through the USPTO.

As of 2025, there are 125 members of the Madrid Union, covering 130 countries. This means your U.S. trademark registration can be extended to any of these countries, giving you protection in multiple regions with a single application.

For more information on the Madrid Protocol, you can visit the official WIPO page on Madrid Protocol.

Note

If the country in which you want to register your trademark uses a different alphabet or writing system, you should consider registering the transliteration of your trademark (i.e., how your trademark would be written in that language’s alphabet). Failure to do so could allow foreign entities to register the transliterated version of your trademark, potentially leading to infringement issues.

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Can all names be trademarked?

If you’re in the donut-making business, you might have come up with the great idea of trying to trademark “donuts” as your company name or even attempt to secure donuts.com for yourself. Unfortunately, you likely won’t have any luck, as the law does not allow a company to claim a generic term as its proprietary mark. Terms like “chairs,” “dogs,” “computers,” etc., are generic and cannot be trademarked because they are commonly used to describe products or services. Everyone has the right to use these terms to describe their goods or services, which is why they can’t be exclusive to one business.

A well-known case involves Hotels.com. The company believed it could trademark the name, thinking that the “.com” suffix would remove the generic nature of the term. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected their application, ruling that adding the suffix did not change the genericness of the term “hotels.” The addition of “.com” did not sufficiently distinguish the term from its general use.

Even names that are similar to generic terms can be problematic. For example, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected the trademark application for the name “Lektronic,” arguing that the term was too close to “electronic,” a widely used term in the industry.

An interesting example is Apple Inc., which successfully conducts business under its trademarked name “Apple.” This is possible because Apple operates in the technology and software sectors, not in the food industry. While “apple” is a generic term in the food sector, it is distinctive and non-generic in the context of technology products, allowing Apple Inc. to secure its trademark.

Trademarks that have become generic and genericized

Even though you may have legally protected a trademark, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be protected forever. In rare cases, trademarks that have become genericized lose their legal protection. When this happens, the trademark becomes a generic term used to describe all similar products, regardless of the manufacturer. This is often referred to as “genericide.”

For example, Thermos was once a trademark held by Thermos GmbH, but over time, the term “thermos” has become commonly used to refer to any vacuum flask, regardless of the manufacturer. Here are some other examples of trademarks that have become genericized:

  • Aspirin (originally a trademark of Bayer)
  • Catseye
  • Escalator
  • Flip phone
  • Laundromat
  • Sellotape
  • Trampoline

Why does this happen?

This can occur when the public begins using a brand name to refer to a type of product rather than the specific brand. The company holding the trademark must take steps to actively protect it, such as preventing it from being used generically. If the company fails to protect the brand’s distinctiveness, it risks losing its exclusive rights to the term.

Please refer to the legal notice for this article.

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