A trademark is any word, name, symbol, or device used to identify the source or origin of products or services and to distinguish those products or services from others. Archaeologists have found that as far back as 3,500 years ago, potters made distinctive marks on their articles of pottery to distinguish their work from others. As discussed in Truth 17, “Something you’ll say a million times: Your business’s name,” the name (and other marks) a business associates with itself makes a difference in terms of how it’s perceived and whether it gets noticed. For example, the original name that Jerry Yang and David Filo, the cofounders of Yahoo!, selected for their business was “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web.” Not too catchy, is it? The name was later changed to Yahoo!, which caught on with early adopters of the Internet and is now one of the most recognizable trademarks in the world.

Nearly all small businesses can benefit from trademark protection.

There are four types of trademarks: trademarks, service marks, collective marks, and certification marks. Trademarks and service marks are of the greatest interest to business owners. Service marks are similar to trademarks, but they are used to identify the services or intangible activities of a business rather than a business’s physical product. Travelocity, eBay, and Google are examples of service marks.

Trademarks are obtained through the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and are renewable every ten years, as long as the mark remains in use. Once you’ve selected a trademark, you should conduct a trademark search to determine if the trademark is available. If someone else has already established rights to the proposed mark, you can’t use it. You also can’t choose a trademark that is confusingly similar to someone else’s trademark. For example, if you tried to trademark the name Apple Core for a computer company, Apple Inc. would undoubtedly argue that your name is confusingly similar to its name.

Technically, a trademark does not have to be registered to receive protection and to prevent other companies from using confusingly similar marks. Once a mark is used in commerce, such as in an advertisement, it is protected. There are distinct advantages, however, to registering the mark through the USPTO. Registered marks are allowed nationwide priority for use of the mark, are permitted to use the federal trademark registration symbol (®), and carry with them the right to block the importation of infringing goods into the United States. The right to use the registered trademark symbol is particularly important. Attaching a trademark symbol to a product (for example, My Yahoo!®) provides notice of a trademark owner’s registration. This posting allows an owner to recover damages in an infringement action and reduces an offender’s claim that it didn’t know that a particular name or logo was trademarked.

You can register a trademark on your own. In fact, there are a number of Web sites, including the USPTO site, that provide step-by-step instructions for how to register a trademark. There are gray areas in trademark law, however, and you want to get it right. You also don’t want to infringe on someone else’s trademark. Accordingly, in most cases, it’s advisable to retain an attorney to help you secure your trademarks.

The following items are eligible for trademark protection:

Trademark protection is broad and provides many opportunities for businesses to differentiate themselves from one another. The key for a new business is to trademark its products and services in ways that draw positive attention to them.

There are two rules of thumb to help businesses owners select appropriate trademarks. First, a mark, whether it is a name, logo, or design, should display creativity and strength. Marks that are inherently distinctive, such as the McDonald’s Golden Arches; made-up words, such as Google and eBay; and words that evoke particular images, such as Double Delight Ice Cream; are strong trademarks.

Second, words that create favorable impressions about a product or service are helpful. A name such as Safe and Secure Childcare for a day care center positively resonates with parents.