What Tucson Business Owners Should Know Before Filing
If you own a business in Tucson, your logo may be everywhere—on your website, storefront, business cards, uniforms, work vehicles, social media accounts, packaging, or advertising. Over time, customers may begin to recognize that logo before they even read your business name.
So, can you trademark it?
In many cases, yes. A business logo can function as a trademark when it identifies the source of particular goods or services. But deciding to file a trademark application for a logo is only the beginning.
Business owners should also consider what parts of their branding they actually want to protect. Should you register the logo? The business name? Both? Does it matter who designed the logo? What happens if you change your logo later?
These are important questions because a trademark application is not simply a matter of uploading your logo to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
What Does It Mean to Trademark a Logo?
A trademark identifies the source of goods or services and distinguishes one business from others in the marketplace. Although we commonly think of trademarks as business or product names, logos can also serve this source-identifying function.
Consider a hypothetical Tucson plumbing company. Its logo might contain the company name along with a cartoon plumber wearing a crown, plumbing tools, stylized lettering, and a distinctive arrangement of colors and graphic elements.
The entire combination may function as a trademark.
Federal registration of that logo can provide the owner with important benefits. But the registration generally protects the particular mark identified in the application. That makes it important to understand the difference between registering a business name and registering a logo containing that business name.
Should You Trademark Your Business Name or Your Logo?
This is one of the most important strategic questions I discuss with trademark clients.
Suppose a business called ABC PLUMBING uses an elaborate logo containing those words. The company could potentially apply to register:
ABC PLUMBING as a standard-character word mark;
the company's design/logo mark; or
both marks in separate applications.
These registrations are not necessarily interchangeable.
A standard-character application seeks protection for the wording itself without limiting the mark to one particular font, size, color, or graphic presentation.
That can be particularly valuable.
Businesses change their visual branding all the time. A company may modernize its website, change its colors, replace its font, or redesign a mascot while continuing to operate under exactly the same name.
A design-mark registration, on the other hand, protects the mark as depicted in the application. That may be valuable when the visual elements themselves are an important part of the brand.
For some businesses, therefore, it makes sense to seek registration of both the name and the logo.
That doesn't necessarily mean every business needs multiple trademark applications. Filing strategy should depend on the strength of the marks, how the business actually uses them, the available budget, and which elements of the brand are most important to protect.
When Is Registering the Logo Particularly Important?
A logo registration may be particularly valuable when the design itself has become an important identifier of the business.
Think about how consumers encounter brands in the real world. A customer driving through Tucson might recognize a particular mascot on a service vehicle. Someone scrolling through Instagram may recognize a company's graphic before noticing its name. A restaurant's distinctive design may appear on signage, merchandise, menus, and packaging.
The visual branding itself can carry significant goodwill.
A logo registration may therefore deserve consideration when a business consistently uses a distinctive graphic design, mascot, symbol, or combination of words and design elements.
But that still doesn't answer whether the logo should be the business's only trademark application.
What If Your Logo Includes a Mascot or Original Artwork?
More elaborate logos create another issue that business owners sometimes overlook: Who owns the artwork?
Suppose you paid an independent graphic designer to create your company's logo. Paying someone to design the logo does not necessarily answer every question about ownership of the underlying creative work.
Trademark and copyright are different areas of intellectual property law.
Trademark law generally concerns branding that identifies the source of goods or services. Copyright law protects qualifying original works of authorship, which can include certain graphic artwork.
That means a logo containing original illustrations or a mascot may raise both trademark and copyright considerations.
Before investing substantially in a logo, a business should understand what rights it received from the designer. This can become especially important if the relationship with the designer later deteriorates or the business wants to modify, license, sell, or extensively commercialize the artwork.
For Tucson businesses hiring photographers, designers, marketing agencies, web developers, and other creative professionals, intellectual-property ownership should be addressed at the beginning of the relationship—not after a dispute develops.
Why Does the USPTO Ask You to Describe Your Logo?
When an application includes design elements, the USPTO may require a description of the mark.
This sounds simple until you actually try to describe a complicated logo.
Imagine a logo containing a business name, stylized lettering, a cartoon character, a crown, tools, background graphics, and multiple colors.
The description needs to objectively identify the significant elements appearing in the mark.
It is not advertising copy.
For example, describing a mascot as “trustworthy, dependable, and the best plumber in Arizona” tells the USPTO very little about what the mark actually looks like. A trademark description instead identifies the literal and design elements contained in the mark.
Depending on the particular logo, that might include the wording, arrangement of the wording, character or mascot, clothing, objects, tools, geometric shapes, background elements, or other significant features.
A detailed logo can therefore require considerably more attention than simply typing the business name into an online application.
Should You Claim the Colors in Your Logo?
Color presents another strategic decision.
Many businesses develop strong color identities and naturally want their trademark application to reflect exactly how their branding appears in the marketplace.
But business owners should understand the significance of claiming color as a feature of a mark.
If color is claimed, the application identifies the particular colors and generally describes where those colors appear in the mark.
In other circumstances, an applicant may decide not to claim color as a feature of the mark.
The appropriate approach depends on the particular mark and registration strategy. The important point is that uploading a color version of your logo should not be an automatic decision made without considering its implications.
The same principle applies throughout the trademark application process: what seems like a clerical choice can actually be a legal or strategic one.
What Happens If You Change Your Logo After Registering It?
Businesses evolve.
The mascot that looked great when you opened your company may look dated ten years later. You might simplify the design, change the font, remove a tagline, alter the colors, or completely rebrand.
That is another reason businesses should think carefully about whether to register their name, their logo, or both.
A standard-character registration for a business name provides flexibility because the registration isn't limited to one particular visual presentation of the wording.
A design registration is more closely connected to the appearance of the registered mark.
Not every small modification automatically creates a problem. But substantial changes can matter, particularly when a business needs to demonstrate continued use of its registered trademark to the USPTO.
A major rebrand may therefore be a good time to review the company's trademark portfolio rather than assuming an old registration automatically covers a substantially different new logo.
A Trademark Application Is More Than Uploading a JPG
The USPTO has an online filing system, and technically a business owner can file an application without hiring an attorney if the applicable USPTO rules permit it.
But access to an online form does not make trademark strategy simple.
Before filing, there may be numerous questions to consider:
Who legally owns the trademark?
Is the proposed owner an individual, LLC, corporation, or other entity?
Is the trademark already being used in interstate commerce?
What goods or services should the application identify?
Which trademark classes are appropriate?
Is the proposed specimen acceptable?
Should the business name and logo be registered separately?
Should color be claimed?
Does the logo contain wording that may need to be disclaimed?
Does the applicant actually own the artwork incorporated into the logo?
Are there existing federal applications or registrations that could create a likelihood-of-confusion problem?
And perhaps most importantly: Has the business adequately searched the proposed trademark before investing in the application?
A beautifully prepared application doesn't solve the problem of an existing conflicting trademark.
Do Arizona Businesses Need an Arizona or Federal Trademark?
Another source of confusion is geography.
The fact that your business is located in Arizona does not mean your only option is an “Arizona trademark.”
Federal trademark applications are filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Federal registration can be especially important for businesses whose commerce falls within the scope of federal trademark law and who want protection that extends beyond their immediate local market.
That can matter even for businesses that primarily think of themselves as local.
A Tucson contractor, restaurant, retailer, photographer, fitness company, salon, professional-service provider, or home-service business may advertise online, serve customers from outside Tucson, sell products across state lines, or eventually expand beyond Southern Arizona.
Trademark strategy should account not only for where your business is today, but also where the brand may be headed.
When Should a Tucson Business Think About Trademark Protection?
Ideally, trademark planning begins before a business becomes heavily invested in a name or logo.
Imagine spending thousands of dollars on a website, signs, vehicle wraps, uniforms, marketing materials, and advertising only to discover that another company owns a federal registration that creates a significant problem for your proposed brand.
Searching and evaluating a mark earlier can help identify potential problems before the cost of changing course becomes much greater.
But if your business is already established, it isn't necessarily too late.
Existing Tucson and Pima County businesses can still evaluate their names and logos, investigate the federal trademark landscape, and develop a registration strategy based on the branding they are already using.
Protecting Your Tucson Business's Brand
Your logo may represent much more than a graphic file sitting on your computer.
It may represent years of advertising, customer relationships, reputation, and goodwill. As your business grows, the value associated with that branding may grow with it.
That makes the question bigger than simply, “Can I trademark my logo?”
The better questions may be:
What parts of my brand should I protect?
Should I register the business name, the logo, or both?
Do I actually own all of the intellectual property incorporated into my logo?
And are there existing trademarks that could create problems before I file?
Those are questions worth answering before submitting a trademark application.
Talk to a Tucson Trademark Attorney
Tucson Trademarks helps entrepreneurs and businesses in Tucson, Pima County, and throughout Arizona protect the brands they are building. Attorney Amanda Bynum works with business owners on trademark searches, clearance, filing strategy, federal trademark applications, and other intellectual-property issues affecting growing businesses.
If you are considering registering your business name or logo, schedule a consultation with Tucson Trademarks to discuss what you want to protect and the trademark strategy that makes sense for your business.
Suggested FAQ schema questions
These would also work well at the bottom of the page for long-tail search traffic:
Can I trademark my business logo in Arizona?
Potentially. Logos that function as source identifiers may qualify for trademark protection. Arizona businesses may also seek federal registration through the USPTO when the applicable requirements are satisfied.
Should I trademark my business name or my logo?
It depends on the business and its branding. A standard-character registration can provide broader flexibility for the wording, while a design registration protects the particular logo presented in the application. Some businesses seek separate registrations for both.
Do I own a logo that I paid a graphic designer to create?
Payment alone should not be assumed to resolve every intellectual-property ownership issue. The agreement with the designer and the circumstances surrounding creation of the artwork can be important.
Can I change my logo after I trademark it?
Businesses can rebrand, but significant changes to a registered design may have trademark consequences. A substantially redesigned logo may warrant a new trademark application.
Do I need a trademark attorney to register a logo?
Not every applicant is required to hire a U.S.-licensed attorney, but trademark applications involve legal and strategic decisions concerning ownership, clearance, goods and services, specimens, filing basis, and scope of protection. An attorney can help evaluate those issues before filing.
