Angela, “You can’t own words!” That’s what somebody said to me a couple of days ago. I’m going to talk about that here over the next three minutes. I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I go live here on weekdays to discuss trademark and copyright law and to answer your questions. If you have questions, drop them into the comments below the video. I will answer them on a future live.
So someone said to me, as we were talking on the phone, “Well, nobody can own words.” And I said, no, you’re wrong. That’s exactly what a trademark is. A trademark is ownership of the exclusive right to use certain words along with the sale or offer for sale of a product or service. So, yes, yes, you absolutely can own words. A trademark is a monopoly on the right to use those words as a trademark in conjunction with your goods or your services.
So when people say to me or I read online, “Well, you can’t you can’t just own words…” Well, yeah, of course you can own the words. That’s exactly what a trademark is. So it allows you as the trademark owner to prevent and punish anybody who uses the phrase or symbol or words that you own as a trademark in conjunction with your services, on their services, if their services or goods are related to yours. So if you have a trademark, that means that no one else can use your trademark with goods that are the same or similar to yours, such that a consumer would be confused.
If a consumer would be confused, we call that trademark infringement and you can sue people for that. That is actionable at law. So, yes, you can have a monopoly on certain words. And yes, that has been codified into the Lanham Act, which is our trademark law here in the United States. So the next time somebody tells you you can’t own words, just know that they are completely wrong and that, yes, you can own words and ownership of words, at least in the context of selling them or using them to sell goods and services — that’s called a trademark.
And yes, a trademark is actual property. It’s called intellectual property. It’s considered an intangible, but nonetheless it is property. Trademarks and other intellectual property can be sold, licensed, and purchased, just like other forms of property.
I’m Angela Langlotz. Find me online at TrademarkDoctor.net. I’m also on YouTube at video dot TrademarkDoctor.net forward slash YouTube. You can ask me any questions there and don’t forget to hit the like and subscribe button. I will answer your questions in a future live, if you’re lucky.
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Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.