It’s a story we’ve heard many times before when someone with an idea for a trademark is beaten to the punch by another quicker applicant. It’s something of a hidden trademark cost in that slowness to act is punished over the faster applicant.

Will the trademark examiner look at previously applied-for trademarks by somebody else that has not yet been registered in deciding whether or not to approve your application?

And the answer to that is, yes, they will.

The Importance of Filing Early when Trademarking Your Brand

That's why the filing date of your trademark application is so crucially important when trademarking your brand.

So if two people file two identical trademark applications on the same day, the person who files sooner will win. And that will be evidenced by the application number that is assigned to your trademark application when you file your trademark application. 

Trademark application numbers aren’t randomly assigned, if application number 1000 is applying for the same trademark in the same class of goods or services as application number 1001, they’ll more than likely approve number 1000 first even if mere minutes separated their applications. That's why it is so important for you to file your trademark application as soon as possible.

A Delinquent Trademark Cost: Don’t Procrastinate, File Early!

Trademarking your brand can be a stressful process, one that’s easy to want to put off further and further. The trademark cost can seem like a lot to invest in, but that investment will be all the more fruitless if you wait after someone else filed for the trademark you’re interested in.

We've had many cases when our potential clients were procrastinating and saying, "Let us think about it, we are going to decide if it's something we want to do". They thought about it, and then they thought about it some more, and then when they were ready, we searched again only to tell them that, unfortunately, we couldn't help them anymore because somebody else filed for an identical trademark in the same country for the same products and services.

The cost for a trademark search is a low one to make sure this doesn’t happen, the kind of due diligence we make sure to practice whenever applying for a trademark. 

So we had to turn them away and say there is nothing we can do. If you filed your application when we told you you should have, a month ago, a week ago, or 3 months ago, if you did it then, you would have been the first in line, and your trademark application would have been approved, then allowed and then registered in your name. But now, there's nothing we can do, you have to rebrand.

Rebranding may be a frustrating turn of events, but the quicker you turn around a new brand - a better brand, will allow you to enter the market as a strong competitor against whoever gained the trademark you were looking for. A small hurdle in the overall race for your company’s fortune and success, and that race for success is a marathon, not a sprint.

So to sum it up, trademark examiners don't only look at registered trademarks, they're also going to look for trademarks that have been applied for but not yet registered in their Trademarks Office.

It’s unfortunately a situation that’s happened far too many times but is unavoidable in the fast-paced trademark marketplace when trademarking your brand. Applying as soon as possible is the only way to make sure your trademark gets in first.