To secure a federal trademark, applicants must submit a comprehensive application to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), providing details about the applicant, the desired trademark, and the associated goods or services. The USPTO examining attorney evaluates the mark's distinctiveness and checks for potential conflicts in their database. Upon approval, the application undergoes a 30-day publication period in the Official Gazette, during which third parties can file objections. If no objections are raised, the trademark application proceeds to final registration.

Yes. If the aspiring owner of a trademark is not actually selling anything in conjunction with the clever name or slogan, the owner does not actually have a trademark – just a clever name or design. To obtain trademark protection, one must have first made a meaningful number of sales of the product/service under the banner of the trademark.

To obtain a Federal Trademark from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), one must demonstrate that he/she has made bona fide sales (what qualifies as bona fide is unfortunately not so clear) in Inter-state commerce. This means that simply selling your product within your home-state is not good enough - you must be selling it across state lines.

Unfortunately, the USPTO has not to date provided an exact number of sales/money earned necessary to satisfy the In-Commerce requirement. Instead, the law provides that a "Bona-Fide" number of sales must have been made. Ultimately, use your judgment. A token sale of one t-shirt to a friend does not count as "Bona-Fide sales" but 100 t-shirts to multiple parties most likely would.

Generally, the trademark application process is not expedited. However, specific circumstances, such as litigation, potential trademark infringement, or the need to secure a U.S. trademark for foreign registration, may warrant expedited processing. The applicant must demonstrate a significant need for expeditious review. Even with expedited review by the USPTO, the overall registration process still typically takes approximately 4 to 6 months.

The USPTO provides applicants with the opportunity to submit a trademark application through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). The purpose of TEAS is to allow applicants to easily submit trademark applications online and indeed pay the required fees online.

TEAS, a comprehensive system, facilitates the submission of various trademarks, including names, logos, sound marks, and motion marks. For sound trademarks, the sound file (WAV, WMV, WMA, or MP3) should not exceed 5 MB.