Can Your Trademark Expire?

Hello, hello everyone, I am Sivonnia DeBarros, the Protector of Athletes® and the owner of the S L DeBarros Law Firm. Look, I enjoy my job because I get the opportunity to protect athletes and entrepreneurs in their business dealings. That also means protecting the assets and things that they create, the things that people don't typically think about on a day-to-day basis as something that could really set them up and set their families up for success. So, today, what I want to talk with you guys about is whether your trademark can expire. Now if you don't have a trademark, chances are you need one. So make sure you identify the IP - and IP is intellectual property assets that you're creating in your business, even if it's typically a hobby right now, if you're making money from the things that you've created, chances are you need a trademark.

Okay, so before I dive into today's talk with you this quick pop-up live, I want to invite you to my trademark masterclass. It's all going to happen on January 21, you can RSVP by going to the link bit.ly/TMMASTERCLASS and make sure the T m masterclass is in all caps. Now, when you get to this page, there will be a checkout form at the end, you can make sure you get our promotional rate by using the code New Year. Now make sure that you use that code before the end of this week so you can get our promotional rate and the code needs to be in all caps. Okay, so to recap bit.ly/TMMASTERCLASS, and again, that is also in all caps. So for those who are joining me, if you're not quite familiar with me, I'm going to tell you a little bit about who I am so you can become quickly familiar with Sivonnia DeBarros.

So, as I stated, I own the SL DeBarros law firm, and I truly enjoy what I do. My deepest belief is that I have been called to serve and protect entrepreneurs. Typically, I work with athletes and business owners. Now. The good thing is guys, I've been featured for my work, and I'm going to share some of those wins with you. But that is not why I do what I do. The reason why I do what I do is that I am changing the landscape of my legacy. And someone in my family did that for me. Right, they laid a foundation that I'm building from. However, if we had more people who had already laid those foundations, we wouldn't have to work as hard as we're working. And so my goal is not only to lay the foundation for my child or children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, you know, to really live off the fruits of my labor, but I want them to not have to work as hard I understand of course the value of the dollar understand assets and business and all those things but to value what is most important, which is our lives and our family. And if you're working so hard, it takes a lot of time away from really spending the time with those that you love. So like I said, I've been featured from my work I've been featured in digital magazines on the news and media like CBS, FOX, and ABC for all sorts of work like hair discrimination and sports, particularly around name image and likeness and the college scene for student-athletes. But at the end of the day guys what I do is essentially the exact same thing for everyone that I serve my whole motto or my mission My purpose is to protect you protect the things that you're creating, protect your legacy that you are trying to leave and protect what can support you if you ever got into a position where you can no longer work. All right, so today what I am going to speak with you about is whether your trademark can expire. Now I said before as I was opening up, if you don't have a trademark, chances are you need one.

I might do a separate Live if you have a question specifically on a trademark. Simply comment that question Okay, now, can your trademark expire? I don't think most people recognize that tip. Technically, a trademark doesn't expire, but you can lose the right to your trademark. Here is why. Typically when an entrepreneur, business owner, or whoever owns this, this name or the brand or whatever it is that you're trying to register, we will typically register this with the USPTO office. So the United States trademark and patented Patent Office, you have to file an application to technically protect the brand that you are using.

Some examples could be the name of a course that you created, you're not trademarking the course itself, the contents of it, but you're registering the name because now it has, it has leveraged, right, you have something that you've put out into the marketplace that you want to safeguard from other people trying to take this name. So if someone ever sees this name of your course, for example, they will know only you have this name doing this particular thing. So think of it the same way for other brands, if you have a clothing line, if you have any event company, if you have a law firm, right, if you are just standing in your own state as an individual who does business as a certain way, let's say your financial advisor, financial planner, and attorney, right, a sports agent, um, you can trademark your name, your brand name, whatever that is. But here lies the issue.

Most people who go and file their trademarks without having an attorney run the risk of losing the right to their brand to their trademark registration. And here is why. And I'm going to give you guys a little, little tip, okay? Most of the time when entrepreneurs filed their trademark applications, the USPTO office via their trademark attorneys will issue sometimes if it calls for what we call an office action letter, right? So they will tell you, hey, this is the situation here. And this is wrong, you need to fix this or do this. And there could be deeper issues, more substantive issues, where the prosecuting attorney may ask you for more information before they completely deny your application.

All right, but let's just say you're not in that boat. Or maybe there was something simple that was sent to you, you were able just to fix that. But now you get the registration, and you're operating your business, you know, with no issues. And years go by, and you never update the USPTO office that you're still using this brand. Okay, you're still using this registered trademark. Here is the problem: can your trademark expire? Technically, no. But you can end up abandoning that trademark if you don't declare that you're still using it.

The rules for the USPTO office are that between the fifth and the sixth year, you need to file a declaration of use, informing the trademark office that you're still using this brand, okay? So you have to file that declaration of use, if you don't, you will run the risk of not having the ability to use that brand name. Now, between the fifth and the sixth year, you have to declare us every 10 years thereafter. All right? Now, I don't want you to fall into this rut of not policing your brand in a way where other people are constantly trying to use your brand in a myriad of different ways. Even if it's in a different like industry like you want to be the person that tells them “hey, you cannot use this name” or you cannot use whatever it is that you've trademarked because that is my brand, you are going to want to show that you have only you have the power to enforce this brand. Okay. And so you got to get out there you have to police the things that you registered through the USPTO office because although your trademark technically doesn't expire, you can lose the right to ownership of your trademark. And that is by allowing other people to use that name to the point that it weakens the strength of that registration. The USPTO office has the strength to pull like yank that registration back that there was a fight that came to their attention about it. All right.

Can your trademark expire? Not technically, but you can lose the rights so make sure that you declare, declare your use within the fifth and the sixth year and make sure every 10 years after that you are declaring the use of that trademark. But on top of that police, police, police, police your brand I know some of us have these emotions that come up when we say police but listen Then you must monitor your brand period point blank, monitor your brand, so no one else can get up on you, and technically push you out of the game. Right? When you have your trademark, you have your own piece, your own asset real estate, technically, I'm going to just say that word, right, you have your own asset real estate that you can monetize and leverage, not just for now, but for generations to come. Think of it this way. When you create assets, such as registered brands, you create money, right? So some people might say, Oh, well, I can't just go and print money or money doesn’t grow on trees.

That might be true, but every time you create a new asset, and you see that it is valuable, it's almost kind of like you're printing your own money. All right, so let's make sure that we protect our trademarks. Guys. Again, I want to invite you to join me on January 21st, 2023. For the trademark masterclass, I'm going to walk you through every in-depth issue around trademarking, how you can trademark your own brands, what those costs are things to look out for, and a host of other things. You don't want to miss this. You can register right now by going to bit.ly/TMMASTERCLASS, and she says all caps and use the code new year before the end of this week and make sure the code is also in all caps. Again, I'm Sivonnia DeBarros, Protector of Athletes®. And y'all know I love this stuff. So I can't wait to talk to you again about trademarks. If you have a question specifically about trademark go ahead and drop it down so that I can answer that question for you. All right guys, have a great night. Ciao.