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Applied for a Trademark - do I have any Protection?

donov2707donov2707 subscriber Posts: 1
edited April 2008 in Protecting Your Ideas
Forgive me if this has already been covered...I couldn`t find an answer anywhere.
 
In February, I applied for a  trademark on a phrase that I am putting onto t-shirts and selling.  I`ve since noticed several other people selling this same phrase on t-shirts.  Even though my trademark is only in "application" status, do I have any legal rights to get these people to cease their marketing and sales??
 
Even if not, do you think a firmly worded letter threatening legal action would work?  Has anyone experienced this kind of thing?
 
Thanks.
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Comments

  • patentandtrademarkpatentandtrademark subscriber Posts: 103
    A "firmly worded letter threatening legal action" can sometimes land the sender of that letter in cout.
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  • KevDevKevDev subscriber Posts: 5 Member
    I`m not an attorney, but it`s my understanding that trademark covers words, designs, or phrases that identify your ownership of a good or service. Is this what your phrase does, something like "Things go better with Coke"?
    If it is just a phrase, like "have a nice day," you could probably get copyright protection on any illustration or design, but not for the phrase itself, which does not identify anything.
    In any case, enforcing your intellectual property rights is up to you, and a letter is a good, and inexpensive, place to start. If your trademark is approved, you have a good chance of recovering damages, although you`ll have to pay upfront attorney costs.
    Good luck!
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