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How can I decrease the risk of my trademark being rejected?

Senior Trademark Attorney

You can reduce the risk of rejection the most before you even file your application by conducting a thorough trademark search and ensuring the mark has sufficient distinctiveness.

A search through the relevant IP office's database identifies existing similar marks before you commit to filing. A likely-confusion refusal is the most common ground for rejection in many jurisdictions; knowing about conflicts in advance gives you the option to adjust the mark or the classes before submitting.

On distinctiveness, avoid terms that directly describe the goods or services. An invented word, an arbitrary term with no connection to the product, or a suggestive term reduces the risk of a descriptiveness refusal significantly.

Submitting a complete, correctly formatted application from the start, accurate goods and services descriptions, the right filing basis, and a compliant specimen where required, avoids procedural office actions that add time and cost without improving the mark's chances.

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