FAQ’s

It’s helpful to break down the trademark process into two steps:

First, the pre-application steps:

When you sign up with Indie Law, our goal is to complete a comprehensive search and share those results with you within 1 week.

After you review those results and give us the green light to continue, we hope to prepare and submit your trademark application within 1 week.

In other words, you can expect to have your application filed within 2 weeks from when you hire Indie Law.

Second, the post-application steps:

After your application is filed, it is processed and reviewed by the trademark office. This can take anywhere from 10-16 months or longer. On average, our applications are approved in about 12 months.

A trademark can be a business name, logo, slogan, product line, podcast, or other “source identifier” for your business. Think of trademarks as your brand — when your customers see X, they know it’s coming from your business.

The purpose of trademarks is to prevent customer confusion. (How crazy would it be if there were two Starbucks-es and you didn’t know which business you were getting a latte from?)

Trademarks are critical for growing small businesses. These laws are what allow you to call “dibs” on your brand elements so that (1) a competitor won’t copy your brand and (2) you don’t have to worry about another business telling you that you have to change your brand.

Trademarks give you exclusive rights to your brand. Under U.S. law, you automatically have “common law” rights to your brand the moment you conduct business under that brand name. 

But those automatic trademark rights are pretty weak. They only exclude others in your region from using that trademark or something similar.

This is why a U.S. trademark registration is so powerful.

With a U.S. trademark registration in place, you get exclusive rights nationwide to your brand.

Let’s be real. If you’re doing business these days, you have customers from all over the country. 

Without nation-wide trademark rights, you’re conducting business on very shaky ground. 

Indie Law helps businesses owners strategize and apply for U.S. trademark registrations.

Keeping your brand protected is a crucial part of conducting business. Trademark registrations are becoming increasingly important as more businesses are claiming brand names online through domain names and social media profiles.

Click here to learn more about the power of U.S. trademark registrations.

U.S. trademark laws are complicated. Lots of business owners are conducting businesses with their brands exposed without realizing it. 

For most entrepreneurs, your brand is one of your biggest assets. You want to make sure you protect your trademarks, but you also want to have the confidence and peace of mind that you understand trademark laws well enough to be properly protecting these valuable assets.

Applying for a U.S. trademark registration is complicated. Hundreds of thousands of applications get filed a year, and many of them get rejected.

While it is possible to file such an application on your own or through an “affordable” form-filling service, these options don’t provide you with an overall strategy and understanding of how trademarks work and what is in the best interest of your business.

Not having trademark registrations in place to protect your brand is just bad business. But having those protections in place and not knowing how to leverage that power or what your limitations are — that’s not a good place to be in either.

When you work with a trademark attorney, you have the following advantages:

• you will better understand how strong or weak your existing trademark rights are
• you will be aware before you apply of any significant risks that could cause your application to be rejected or limited
• you will have a clearer sense of what kinds of trademarks you own that your should prioritize
• you will save a lot of time trying to figure out these laws and processes
• you will have the peace of mind knowing that an attorney is communicating with the trademark office on your behalf

Indie Law has several options available to help you protect your brand and secure powerful trademark rights. These services include the following.

If you are interested in any of these services, you can let us know in the live chat area at the bottom of your screen or complete the intake form on this page.

U.S. Trademark Application Packages

Indie Law can help apply for a U.S. trademark registration on your behalf. We will conduct a comprehensive search of the trademark database, prepare and submit the application on your behalf, and represent you throughout the application process.

When the application is successful — or if there are challenges along the way — we will keep you posted and strategize with you about next steps.

We offer payment plans as well as an option to assist you with an LLC formation if you would like to form a limited liability company before applying for a trademark registration.

Our application packages start around $1500.

Search and Monitoring Packages

If you aren’t ready to apply for a U.S. trademark registration yet, you should still be closely monitoring the federal trademark database to make sure that no one attempts to claim a trademark that is similar to yours.

And if you have a registration in place, you also have a duty to watch that database and enforce your rights or else you risk losing these strong trademark protections.

For those reasons, Indie Law offers search and monitoring services as well. These services start around $400.

Consultation Calls

If you would like to speak with an attorney for advice about your trademarks and which service (if any) we recommend, you can click here to schedule a strategy consultation directly with trademark attorney Joey C. Vitale.

Looking for a more DIY solution?

Our founding attorney, Joey C. Vitale, has created an online course that walks you through what you need to know about trademarks so that you can confidently file an application on your own.

If you don’t have the budget to invest in an attorney — and you have the time to learn and take action on your own — Joey’s Trademark Toolkit is an excellent option.

Click here to learn more about the Trademark Toolkit.

While a U.S. trademark registration does not offer exclusive protection outside of the United States, that does not mean that businesses foreign to the United States should completely ignore U.S. protections.

If you sell to customers — or potential customers — in the United States, then a U.S. trademark protection would likely be a powerful investment for your business. 

We have a free training resource that highlights the 4 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to trademarks.

If you avoid these mistakes, you’ll be ahead of the pack and understand trademarks better than most entrepreneurs.

You can access this free training and learn about these 4 mistakes here.

We love what we do, but we aren’t for everyone!

Indie Law might not be right for you if . . .

You’re looking for a law firm to handle all of your business legal needs.

Trademarks are our jam here at Indie Law. We focus on trademark protections because it’s an area of the law that often gets overlooked by entrepreneurs but is critical to protecting your most valuable asset: your brand.

If you’re looking for help with patents, contracts, copyrights … or anything besides trademarks … please feel free to reach out to us and we will do what we can to connect you to a lawyer or expert who can better assist you.

You want an IP litigation firm.

Indie Law focuses on helping you secure strong trademark protections. We help you be proactive before any 💩 hits the fan.

If a dispute arises or your rights are being infringed on, please contact a litigation firm as soon as possible. We can help connect you with such a firm.

You prefer working with a more formal, suit-and-tie, legalese-using lawyer.

Indie Law loves working with the against-the-grainers, the creative thinkers, and the passionate entrepreneurs. 

Because that’s who we are.

We value keeping things positive, simple, honest, and human. 

We’re a group of huggers, not hand shakers.

Indie Law might be GREAT for you if . . .

You’re open to becoming friends with your legal team.

We absolutely love working with our clients. When you hire us, you don’t just hire a law firm. You get welcomed into a family.

You’re passionate about your brand and have big goals.

Running a business can feel so overwhelming. And it can be so easy to put the boring-but-important stuff in place like accounting, systems, and trademarks. 

We might not focus on the sexiest part of entrepreneurship, but we can promise you a lot of peace of mind and clarity on the legl side.

You don’t have the time to do this on your own or risk a low-cost option getting it wrong.

As the owner of a business, your time is so important. We want to help you focus on revenue-generating tasks that build your business.

Working with a law firm that specializes in trademarks is a great way to have this huge concern lifted off your plate so you can use your time more wisely.

Note: An extra charge of $20 is billed on top of the $350 government filling fee. Paypal charges $20 off on all overseas payments.