Trademarks, wow what a topic!

Everyone knows what a trademark is, you see them every day when you go to McDonald's, Wendy's, or any other company.

 But does everyone know what a trademark really is? 
                      A trademark is a symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.

Grove City Garage Door® is a legally registered by Grove City Garage Door Inc. with the United States Trade and Patent Office (USTPO), and has been since 2012!

 Search for yourself: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

 What does it take to get your trademark registered? It takes more than 5 years of use of the trademark in commerce to even get considered for having a trademark.

What does it mean to have a trademark? It means that the use of the words Grove City Garage Door can only be used in commerce by the owner of the trademark, Grove City Garage Door Inc.

How hard is it to protect a trademark? Extremely hard! Once upon a time there was no Internet, there was only the phone book. The phone book only allowed one listing of each company and no one was allowed to copy another companies name. The phone book was also regulated by the government so that copying another company name could not happen. Well then the Internet got started and Internet people don't really care if other companies copy other companies' names on the Internet. Thus, you get a federal trademark for your trademarked name and then you still have to battle with the Internet people to protect your name. The only protection you can get with a federal trademark is that Google and other online search engines will not allow other companies to use your trademark as their headline. Now if other companies use your company trademark as their keywords, that is completely legal to do. Rearrange your name in other manners, that is also legal.

Is this fair? We truly do not think it is fair that Internet search engines will allow other companies to use your trademark as their keywords, or rearrange your name to get your customers confused. We also do not think it is fair that other companies will do unsavory things such as making other websites using a companies' name but with different end extensions to try to confuse customers into thinking this is the real company. At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we do not practice this at all. We prefer to get our customers the original way, through hard work, trust, and truth in advertising. We do not practice using other companies' names to get their customers. The garage door business is a competitive business and there are many companies out there. Some are fair in pricing and others will rob you blind, so be careful when you are searching for a reputable company to fix your garage door.

What can a consumer do to protect themselves? Do some research on a company first. Find out what people really think of the company. Does it sound too good to be true? Then it probably is! Do companies really offer $200.00 or more off of garage doors? Most likely not. Do they offer a service call for less than $25? That is probably not true! It takes gas money to get to your location, so what does $25 really cover? Nothing!