I had a great conversation with Samantha Bradshaw, a seasoned small business and intellectual property lawyer, about the process of naming a business. Yes, you want a cool name, but you also want one you can own and protect.
Proactive Legal Prevention: Samantha emphasizes the importance of proactive measures to keep creative service providers out of legal entanglements. She highlights how businesses often encounter challenges when they receive "angry lawyer letters" or court documents, underscoring the necessity of building strategies to prevent such issues from arising in the first place.
Balancing Uniqueness and Descriptiveness: Samantha discusses the delicate balance between creating a business name that is both unique and descriptive. While marketing professionals may advocate for SEO-friendly names that directly describe the services offered, Samantha explains the limitations of trademark protection for such generic terms. Instead, she encourages business owners to explore names that strike a balance between suggesting the nature of the business while remaining distinct and protectable.
Trademark Protectability Spectrum: Samantha introduces the concept of a spectrum of trademark protectability, ranging from generic to fanciful names. She elucidates how names that are overly descriptive or generic, such as "Photographer Marketing Services," are unlikely to receive trademark protection. Conversely, names that are arbitrary or fanciful, like "Apple" for computers, hold significant trademark power due to their uniqueness.
Creative Naming Strategies: Samantha shares practical advice on how to generate creative and trademarkable business names. She suggests brainstorming sessions where business owners can combine suggestive elements related to their industry to create distinctive names. By leveraging word-mashing techniques and considering tangentially related concepts, businesses can craft memorable and protectable brand identities.
Trademark's Role in Business Growth: Finally, Samantha underscores the broader implications of trademark protection beyond legal compliance. Trademarks serve as essential assets that facilitate business growth, franchising, licensing opportunities, and brand recognition. By securing a trademark for their business name, entrepreneurs lay a solid foundation for future expansion and success.
About Samantha Bradshaw
#927 Bringing Sales and Marketing Together.
#926 Start with the Middle.
#925 Call Visitors to Action
#924 Your Next Hire
#923 What is Your Brand Position
#922 A Short Letter is Hard to Write
#921 Where are Your Keys?
#920 Don’t be a Rotten Apple
#919 Managing the Content Beast
#918 Live Life By Design
#917 You Can Not Be All Things to All People
#916 Buy, Don’t Build
#915 Dance withTime
#914 Seven Figure Sales Teams
#913 - Creating Content for People With Short Attention Spans
#912 Lessons from Retail
#911 Building Community
#910 - Smats, Guts, Luck and Friends
#909 Use AI for Your Home Page
#908 - Do You Have a Peer Group? You Should
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