You add onto your existing trademarks by filing a trademark application for any new goods and services that you want to associate with your trademark.
Once you have an existing registration or application, you can’t add on to it. You can remove goods and services, but you can’t expand the trademark footprint of an existing application or registration.
Can I Remove Goods and Services From My Trademark Application or My Trademark Registration?
You can remove goods and services, however. Let’s say that you had a registration, and then when it came time to renew at the 5 year mark, you discovered that you were no longer using the trademark on some of the goods and services listed in the trademark registration. It’s then appropriate to remove those from the trademark registration.
Trademark applications are the same. Let’s say that you filed a trademark application based on your intent to use the trademark on certain goods and services, but then when it came time to prove your use, you found that your plans changed and you decided not to market certain goods and services that were listed in the trademark application. Those would be removed from the application.
How Do I Expand My Trademark Footprint?
If you want to expand the brand footprint, you would file a new trademark application to cover the new goods and services. Let’s say that your original trademark was for coaching services, and you wanted to expand into branded water bottles and tee shirts. You would file a new trademark application for water bottles and tee shirts. Simple, right?
But what about your old trademark registration? Doesn’t it get confusing to have multiple registrations for the same brand, all covering different things? I suppose it could, if you didn’t keep track of the registrations, their renewal dates, and the goods and services covered by each of the registrations. But that’s a simple matter that a spreadsheet can solve. You want to be sure that either you or your trademark attorney is calendaring the trademark renewal dates, so that those don’t get forgotten. Five years can seem like a long time away, but if you don’t calendar it, you could forget about the registration, and that means that the trademark registration will expire and you’ll have to apply for the trademark all over again.
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Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.