Five Steps to Keep Trademark Brands Alive Forever

Truly a trademark is one of the most important assets for marketing products or services. For small and home based businesses a trademark is ideal to build brand awareness. Adding a trademark is a solution to standout in the crowd and key to building a sustainable brand.

A trademark can live forever unlike patents and copyrights. The one necessary element to keep a trademark alive is to use it! Usage of a trademark is what will consistently keep it alive forever. An active utilized trademark in interstate commerce is guaranteed protection even if the trademark was never officially registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as long as it is being used.

YOURTRADEMARKNAME™

By adding TM to the trademark name and using the trademark it is protected. However, it is a very good idea to make sure that the trademark name is not associated with a similar or like name. This can easily be done by doing a search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If you are unsure about a trademark infringement you should consult with an attorney before using the trademark.

Five Steps to Keep Trademark Brands Alive Forever

1. Display the trademark in distinctive style to set it apart from non-trademark copy.
2. Present use of the mark such as “trademark” “tm” “brand” “registered”
3. Never use the trademark outside of its correct grammatical form. Always make sure that it is only used as an adjective.
4. Always follow the generic word with the use of the trademark.
5. NEVER modify the trademark.


Building credibility using a trademark brand puts small and home based businesses in a better marketing position. The brand awareness exposure adds value to the products and services offered. Use the trademark to brand for marketing, promotions, websites, blogs, Internet, social media, etc.