78% of all business owners know almost nothing about trademarks and other Intellectual property and that little what they know is wrong in many cases. See for yourself: 3 most common trademark misconceptions of business owners.
Misconception 1: That you need to live or have a company in the US (US, China, Japan, etc.) to file a mark there.
Fact 1: You don’t have to open a company in the US (or any other country) to own a mark there. You just need a trademark attorney to represent you before the Trademark Office.
Misconception 2: That once you file your mark in your home country, it is international by default and other countries will recognize it.
Fact 2: Trademarks are territorial and countries will not recognize foreign trademarks. You will have to protect your mark in every country separately.
Misconception 3: If there are no obvious conflicts (identical marks) your mark will be registered
Fact 3: That’s very difficult to explain, but trademarks have a scope of protection, which covers all similar words/phrases. So Google® will cover Gogl, Gugl, and other variants. No identical marks is a good sign, but no way it means that the coast is clear.
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