Legal and business considerations when choosing a name for your startup company.

1. Upstart Forum’s
Mega Bites Series
2010
[INSERT NAME HERE]:
Edward H. Schuth, Esq.
Naming Your New Company Schuth | Venture Law Advisors
ed@vlafirm.com
ww w. vl a f i r m . c o m

2. Edward Schuth
• Lawyer, Investor, Entrepreneur, Artist,
Photographer, Sailer, Father and Dog Walker
• Founder & Attorney - Schuth | Venture Law
Advisors
• Professor of Law
University of Illinois
Bachelor of Arts
Summa Cum Laude
1992
Wake Forest University School of Law
Juris Doctor
1995

3. Who are your customers?
What are you selling?
Will the company name have brand value?

4. Attributes of good brands and company names
• Naming is a mix of trademark law and
Suggestive Lasting v. marketing
Distinctive
(or arbitrary or fanciful) Trendy • Your company name sets the framework
for your brand
• Avoid the urge to be descriptive
• Choose names that are evocative but lasting
• This can mean suggestive or other terms that
Web Presence connect with customers
• You want something distinctive
• And while cool is good, trendy can date you
• Web presence matters, even if your
company isn’t .com’s
Own and Protect • Avoid names that will be difficult for search
engines - hyphens, punctuation, even numbers
• You want a name you can own & protect
• Avoid infringing others
• Names you can register as a trademark
Brand Value • Protect from infringement from competitors

5. The Brick
Company
Descriptive
or Generic
You cannot protect descriptive or generic
terms.
Anyone can use this type of name

6. Personal Names
Personal names can be protected as
trademarks
Links the company to an individual
(which may or may not be a good idea)
Historical or fictitious figures can be used
Be very careful if you are using a name
other than your own

7. Geographic Indications
Geographic references can be protected as
trademarks
But they are harder to register and can be
more difficult to enforce
Risk of dilution from other companies using
the same geographic reference

8. Acronyms
Acronyms can be protected as trademarks,
but are not as strong as other types of names
For the same reasons, they may not make
good brands for your company
It is better to start with a full name and build
equity in the abbreviation - such as IBM, HP or
B of A

9. • Not descriptive
• Tells you something
Suggestive •
•
Is evocative
These make good trademarks
• Real words, used arbitrarily
• Not descriptive
Arbitrary •
•
Not mis-descriptive
Strong trademark protection
• Made up words
• Can be evocative
Fanciful •
•
Can be suggestive
Very strong as trademarks
The strongest trademarks and brands

10. Name Clearance Process Yes:
File a Trademark
If Clear: application with the
Decide whether to USPTO
If Possible Brand: register the name as a Consider international
Proceed with a trademark
trademark clearance
If Not:
If Available: search and opinion
You may adopt and use
Is the name purely the name. You are at
descriptive/generic or a If Not Clear: greater risk for
possible brand? Search for a new infringement.
If Descriptive: name
You may adopt & use
Availability as a the name, but will not
be able to protect it
corporate name
Secretary of State
If Not Available:
Government Agencies
Search for a new
name
• State level Secretaries of State
• U.S.P.T.O.
• Foreign Trademark Offices
• By Country
• WIPO, CTM

11. Some Final Thoughts
• Be thoughtful about your circumstances • Good branding practices
• Growth v. Local Company • Be emotive and meaningful if you can
• Industry • Lots of information on branding and
• Customer Attributes marketing in books and online
• Be flexible • If you have the budget but not the time,
consider hiring a marketing and naming
• Cool is ok, but trendy is bad consultant (although this can be expensive
• Allow your company to grow and expand if you let it)
• Be distinctive • Something you can own and protect - trademark
• Easy for search engines • It is not a brand if you can’t protect it
• Avoid hyphens, numbers, punctuation or • Registration does not matter if you do not
attributes that will be hard to type into enforce
Google • Think about possible restrictions on
• Remember that web presence matters, expansion when choosing a name
even for companies that are not “.com’s”

12. S CHUTH
Venture | Law | Advisors
www.vlafirm.com