Why is getting a Trademark important to a business? Well for one thing there are no protections on the internet from other people using your corporation name. We went through the process of getting our corporation name trademarked a few years ago because we were running into issues with other companies using our name to steal our customer base, confuse our customers, and make our reputation look bad. So we got into the process of trademarking Grove City Garage Door, this is a six month to a year process.
And what does a trademark do for your company you ask? Well with Google, Bing, and Yahoo no other company can use your trademark as a title on their pay to click ads. You can turn the offenders in to Google, Bing, and Yahoo by filling out the trademark complaint forms online.
What will they stop? The direct Heading Title use of the wording of your trademark.
What will they not stop? The use of your trademark as a keyword, any use of the words that closely resemble your trademark, and if you get a customer service rep that does not agree with you; turn it in again. Keep trying and be persistent!
Google Trademark Complaint
Bing/Yahoo Trademark Complaint
Searching the internet:
This past weekend we were enjoying a relaxing weekend, doing some internet searching, and checking out our trademarked name in search results. We do a daily search of our trademark name for the simple reason of seeing how we are ranking on the mobile version and on the computers. See who is trying to use our name, and see what our customers are seeing. Well we stumbled across a new website using our name in their title and on their website.
Stopping Offenders:
1. Look at the offending website and try to determine if it gives a company name or not. In this case they were using this name: Grove City Garage Door Service as their company name. Of course we all know that this is my company name with the word service added to the end.
2. Look up the domain name registry: Whois Registry Lookup
3. If it's not private, which Google, Bing, and Yahoo do not like: figure out the name of the person who owns the website, and who their hosting provider is.
4. Search that name on the internet with related keywords such as in this case: garage doors. What might you find? We found this person, their Facebook page, and other contact information.
5. Email the offending person first explaining that you have a term trademarked, show proof of trademark, and ask the offender to remove all instances of the term from their website, title, etc. If they comply then GREAT! You do not have to get a lawyer involved. In this particular case, these people acted like "catch me if you can".
6. Contact your lawyer if they will not comply with you. Pay your retainer fee (we have a lawyer on full time retainer), ask the lawyer to get involved with a phone call, a cease and desist letter, and wait. If the offender will not comply with the lawyer, then you will have to pay more lawyer fees and take it to court! Which sucks the life out of your business with unwarranted costs! Just because some person cannot be creative and develop their own business name!
What do trademark offenders do with using your name?
People who use other companies' trademark or name on their website are trying to confuse customers of these companies. They are preying on unsuspecting people, and then they will sell your contact information to other companies. They will come to your home pretending to be the company you thought you called, make repairs, or sell you stuff you do not need.
What does this do to a company?
A trademark offender will use a company name, make sales to customers using said name, and ruin a reputation of a company! We have had to deal with this in the past, and what happened? We get a phone call from someone who said that they called Grove City Garage Door, we get there and low and behold it was not myself or my brother Pat that was there. It was some no name trademark offender pretending to be Grove City Garage Door! We do not honor their work and the customer may or may not get irate!
Make Sure of Who You Are Dealing with:
If you think you called and scheduled an appointment with a company, when the company arrives at your home, check the signage on their vehicle, shirt, etc. If it does not match who you think you called, then send them away! If they ask you to make a check out to Joe Blow Service Company and not the company you think you called, then send them away!
Why does this upset us?
As a business owner, I try to be fair, honest, and truthful with all of our customers. We have a reputation to protect as a business, and we do not want some Joe Blow Service Company ruining our business in any way shape or form. We have busted our butts for the past 16 years establishing our business name and trademark! GET YOUR OWN BUSINESS NAME! There were days in the beginning of our business that we scraped by, did not get a paycheck, and struggled to get our name out there as a business. Trademark offenders and people who steal other business names to get ahead in this world just get my blood boiling............BE CREATIVE AND MAKE YOUR OWN BUSINESS NAME WORK! I did it! YES USING ANOTHER COMPANIES' NAME IS STEALING!
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