So, I recently applied for and got approved for a trademark for The Tinnitus Guy. That’s a massive win for me as it means that no one else can legally use ‘The Tinnitus Guy’ name and brand anywhere related to my healthcare business. I thought I would share why this is important and why you should care if you own your brand.
Inspired by a Social Media Personality
I got this from another social media personality who goes around asking people if they have a dream—you know the guy. When he asked someone about their ideas and they responded that they wanted to secure the handle, he said, ‘It’s much more important to secure the trademark.’ That got me thinking, and as I didn’t know anything about it, I did my research.
To boil it down to its essentials, if you're building a brand that can take years of effort and financial investment, the nightmare scenario would be someone else taking the credit by using your company name. Without a Trademark, it's difficult to stop this type of thing from happening.
You might be thinking about the cost of the trademark and whether it's worth it. I guess that depends on your belief in your brand and how much faith you have in your project. If you're not confident in the future of your project, i guess this is a bigger issue that you have to solve. You should be. You should m, d be 100% confident that the product or service that you're building is going to make a positive change in the world, and as such you need a trademark.
Understanding Trademarks
Up until recently, the only thing I knew about trademarking was that it seemed like a synonym for copyright and it offered the business protection from copycats. Well, that’s partly true, but let me make you aware of the details.
What is a Trademark?
So a trademark is a right of exclusive use of a brand. It can either cover the name of the brand; the logo and colours; or both. Once approved and awarded, it means that within the jurisdiction of the trademarking authority, only you can lawfully use it. Importantly for people concerned about social media handles, this means that once you get the trademark, you can apply to the social media company to get someone else to stop using it. There are some details here which I’ll get to shortly.
My Trademark Application Journey
So I applied for this recently. I’ll tell you what I learned.
You apply directly through the .gov website- here
It’s not that complicated, so don’t bother wasting money and using a trademark lawyer who will charge you for doing very little
As there are two types of trademark—one that covers the words in the name and the other that covers the visual representation of the brand (namely the logo)—it’s important to decide which one you need or both. The more you apply for, the more it costs. In my case, I just went for the name as that’s the thing that needs protection, as in most cases, my brand is useless without the name.
You need to decide how many articles/areas you want to cover. These articles refer to domains of business that might apply. So, for example, in my case, I got coverage on health-related technology and consultations. I don’t need cover in hair and beauty though, so I didn’t choose this article. It’s important to choose enough to give you protection but not too many, as it’s £50 for every additional article. As a tip, it’s useful to use ChatGPT here, as it tells you which articles are likely needed for your business.
The price—It costs £170 for the application and one article included, and £50 for every article after that.
Your payment is not refunded even if you're not successful. That means if they feel your application doesn’t have the grounds to warrant the trademark—i.e., someone else already has it—then you lose your money.
Lastly and importantly, note that there are different jurisdictions for trademarks, and you need to apply separately for each one to get cover. So the UK has its own trademark, which covers you here but not in Europe and the US. So you need to decide where you want to cover and apply accordingly.
After the application, you are kept up to date by email about the status of your application. If it's all in order, it normally goes out for approval which can take a few months, but then you're on the register and protected for the next 10 years.
Is the Trademark enough?
You should secure your social media handles and web domains
I'm not saying that you shouldn't secure your social media and handles- You should. All I'm saying is, that securing the Trademark has more value in that it gives you more security. With that being said all small businesses, especially those that are building a brand should ensure that they secure two things:
Social media handles on all platforms- even if you're not using them right now. If the one you want has been taken, you can secure something close to it by adding an appendage like _official. If you like you can apply to the social media company to require the other person to change the handle if it infringes on your Trademark.
Secure your website domain name. Using something like Godaddy.com , run a search for your brand name and check it hasn't already been taken. It's important to secure .com and .uk (if you're from the UK). If you don't get these in time, you will find it very difficult to gain credibility without a trustworthy web presence.
Conclusion: Trademark Approval
So I have been awarded the trademark for The Tinnitus Guy. That’s a massive relief and reassurance, so I’m protected from people trying to take advantage of my name and the work that I’m doing.
I hope that helps everyone.
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