Brand names and company names
Trademark or LLC name: what each one protects
Forming an LLC and protecting a brand are separate jobs, run by separate systems, and neither one does the other's work.
Trademark
What a trademark protects
A trademark is about buyers. It is the word, logo or phrase that tells them whose goods or services they are looking at.
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The brand, in use
Protection attaches to a mark used to sell particular goods or services, not to a word in the abstract.
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Where the right comes from
Using a mark in commerce can create rights on its own. Registering it with the USPTO or a state adds to them, and that is a separate step from forming a company.
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What it can stop
An owner can object to a similar name on related goods or services when buyers are likely to be confused about who is behind them.
LLC name
What an LLC name does
An LLC name is about the record. It identifies one legal entity in the state where that entity was formed.
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The company, on file
The name goes on the formation document and the state's business records, and the company signs contracts and opens accounts under it.
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What the state looks at
A filing office generally compares a proposed name with others on its own records. It is not looking for trademark conflicts.
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What it cannot stop
Holding an LLC name does not keep anyone from using the same words as a brand, or a trademark owner from objecting to yours.
Common mix-ups
Where the two get confused
The trouble starts when one system is asked a question only the other can answer.
- "The state accepted my LLC name, so the brand is mine."
- Acceptance means the name was available on that state's business record. It is not a ruling on whether someone already uses the name as a brand.
- "Nobody in my state has this name, so I am clear."
- A trademark owner elsewhere, or one using a similar name for related goods, may hold rights that reach you. A state records check does not look for them.
- "I own the domain, so I own the name."
- A domain registration is a contract with a registrar. It does not decide who holds trademark rights in the words.
- "My trademark covers the company too."
- A trademark does not create a legal entity, it does not bring the liability separation an LLC offers, and it does not reserve a name on any state's record.
One, the other or both
How a business ends up needing one or both
It comes down to how the name is used and who needs to recognise it.
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A company name nobody buys under
A holding company or a back-office entity may only ever need its LLC name, because no customer picks it out from others.
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A brand with no company behind it
A sole proprietor can hold trademark rights without forming anything. Whether to form an LLC is then a question about liability, not about the brand.
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One name doing both jobs
When the LLC name is also what customers see, the same words sit in both systems, and each system is dealt with on its own terms.
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A brand that differs from the legal name
An LLC can trade under a name other than its own. The LLC name, the trade name and the trademark can then be three separate things to keep straight.
Destinations
Subjects further along each road
Articles on these subjects are on the way.
Toward the LLC name
- Name availability
- Name reservations
- Doing business as names
- Changing an LLC's name
Toward the trademark
- Likelihood of confusion
- Use in commerce
- Federal registration
- State trademark registers