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[wzhao6898]

Hi there,
AJDS's question was the one similar to what I have in mind. I'm starting up a web site for children's books, say, Dr. Has Books, and I've registered domain names like: drhas-books.com, and drhasbooks.com. I'll be selling books on my web site, and iphone/ipad apps, sometimes for a fee, sometimes free, like most of iphone/ipad apps are. My questions are:
1. What should I trademark?
2. Will putting the book/books on my web site for free or for a nominal fee considered "use in commerce"?
3. Is filing "intent to use", then later on submit commercial samples more complicated than just make the product "used in commerce", then file "use in commerce"? since I'm most likely going to do the filing myself, don't want to mess anything up.
Jeff kinda answered by first question, I should, in the case, trademark "Dr. Has Books", but if I, in the future, selling merchandise of "Dr. Has", am I protected?
Thanks very much!

David

[JSonnabend]

1. You don't "trademark" anything.  It's not a verb.  What you should do is register the mark or marks you are using.

2. Putting books on your website will not qualify as any use in commerce, but selling and/or otherwise providing them to third parties will.  The services in question would be retail services or the like.

3.  If you don't want to mess anything up, best bet is to speak directly with a qualified TIM attorney.  In many instances, it's less expensive in the long run to spend money on an attorney up front rather than save initially only to find you need an attorney to fix your mistakes.

That said, an ITU is the safer route if you are not already using your mark in commerce.

- Jeff

[wzhao6898]

1. You don't "trademark" anything.  It's not a verb.  What you should do is register the mark or marks you are using.

Thanks very much, Jeff. and you've been saying that: "trademark" is not a verb, so I'm registering a trademark of "Dr. Has Books"? And, as you pointed out in your earlier answers to AJDS's questions, if I want to use "Dr. Has", I will need to register both "Dr. Has Books" and "Dr. Has", right?
BTW, is legalzoom trademark package the way to go if I want save some money? I'm not sure how much a trademark attorney will cost.
Thanks,

David

[JSonnabend]

I do not think highly of Legal Zoom or other similar services.

I can't speak for other attorneys, but I generally charge $275 per application per class for filing.  I'm not just filling out a form based on your input (like Legal Zoom and similar services do).

As for your substantive follow-up question, that depends on how you use your mark, risk tolerance, and budget.

- Jeff