Including Your Logo in Color or Black and White When Applying for Trademark Protection

Our clients are often unsure if they should include color as a feature of their trademark or stick to black and white images when applying with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Thankfully, this question is only relevant if you’re applying for a design mark. Standard character marks, such as what you would use to register the name of a company or product, don’t even provide the option. However, it’s something you absolutely must consider when applying for a design mark, such as a company logo.

Does Color or Black and White Offer Better Trademark Protection?

Including color as a feature of your trademark lowers the degree of protection that it will receive upon registration with the USPTO and limits your options for enforcement. Submitting your design mark in black and white allows you to use any combination of colors for your logo or other image with full trademark coverage. Claiming a color or combination of colors, on the other hand, limits your coverage against infringement to that specific color or combination.

When Should Color Be Included as a Feature of a Trademark?

As mentioned above, you only need to decide on whether your trademark or logo should be in color or black and white when applying for a design mark. Even then, you should only include color as a feature of your mark if it’s secondary to the function of your good or service and serves the sole purpose of setting your product apart from the competition.

In most cases, it’s best to hold off on doing so until you’ve already successfully registered the word mark as well as a black and white version of the design. This is the strategy used by household names such as Starbucks and FedEx, and it maximizes both the strength and flexibility of your mark.

Can a Lawyer Help Me With My Trademark Application?

Absolutely! We highly recommend that anyone interested in registering a trademark hire a lawyer to help them through the application process. An attorney can also advise you on the strength of your mark, its chance of a successful registration, and suggest ideas and alterations that could make the mark easier to register. Clients from across Florida have hired our firm for help with trademark clearance searches and registrations, and many of them keep coming back to us because they know that our experience and attention to detail make us a reliable resource.

Your business’s intellectual property is too important to leave unregistered. For a practiced attorney’s assistance, call our offices at (727) 279-5037 or visit our service pages for both Florida state and federal trademarks.

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