Sell a trademark?

July 26, 2005 2:58 PM

A relative of mine has come up with a perfect acronym. Is there money to be made?

She came up with a 5 letter acronym that I think may be worth something. I think the acronym could be used as a magazine title or event. I wish i could tell the acronym to see if I'm totally off my rocker. I'm wondering if there is a way to 'sell' the idea for this acronym she's had. Can I trademark the acronym and expansion of the acronym and then try to sell it? Or am i just getting excited for nothing? I feel like the folks that register a domain name and then sit waiting for it to sell. If I do decide to trademark it, is trademarking a complicated or hard process? Thanks for the info.

posted by tayknight to work & money (11 comments total)

It is my understanding that a trademark needs to be registered to an entity that engages in trade/business if you want to stand a chance of protecting said trademark. Also, if someone infringes on this mark, you would need to show that it caused confusion in the marketplace.
posted by pmbuko at 3:07 PM on July 26, 2005

could cause confusion...
posted by pmbuko at 3:08 PM on July 26, 2005

pmbuko is generally correct. Trademarks are pretty much limited to "marks used in commerce", but nowadays you can register first and then actually engage in commerce with it within a short period of time afterward. The system intentionally makes it difficult to "reserve" marks to prevent speculation on future names and to prevent people from locking-up all the good ones.

On the other hand, nowadays just buy the domain and you accomplish a lot of the same task.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 3:10 PM on July 26, 2005

Some more facts about trademarks and the process of obtaining one.
posted by pmbuko at 3:11 PM on July 26, 2005

Yeah, I think you actually have to sell some kind of product or service under the mark before you can register it. Other than actually registering domain names I don't think there's a lot you can do in this situation, but IANAL.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:13 PM on July 26, 2005

I feel like the folks that register a domain name and then sit waiting for it to sell.

Is the domain available? It would be another way to strengthen your ownership claim. If it is taken, is it used as an acronym?

I thought the acronym was ITMTBM. Heh.
posted by geekyguy at 6:04 PM on July 26, 2005

Thanks for the info folks. geekyguy, the sad thing is I had to read my own post 3 times to find ITMTBM, sigh, long day.
posted by tayknight at 6:38 PM on July 26, 2005

IANAL, but as I understand it, you can't have a trademark that's not attached to a specific product or service you provide.

The trademark registration includes the "date of first use" of the trademark. This can be a date in the future (e.g. for a product under development) but you can't have a trademark without the product.

Perhaps you can get away with a relatively inspecific plan for a future product or service? You'd have to seek professional help on how to pull that off, I think.
posted by winston at 6:57 PM on July 26, 2005

I see people in the south wearing G.R.I.T.S. (Girl Raised in the South) T-shirts and hats. Someone's making money off of that.
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:13 PM on July 26, 2005

Well, if it is worth anything, it's just an acronym idea, and the most someone would pay for the idea is maybe $500-$1000. As previous posters have said, though, it's pretty impossible to legally protect an acronym idea. (Which, IMO, is a good thing.) And without being able to protect it, it's going to be pretty hard to "sell" it. So your only real option, if you think it's really that brilliant, is to use it yourself, and trademark.

Or just tell us what it is and be done with it. :)
posted by trevyn at 10:01 PM on July 26, 2005

Why list them separately?

Yngwie B. Goode
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:43 PM on July 26, 2005