Trademarks are an essential way to protect your intellectual property (IP) so you can market your goods and services under your brand. However, if you have ever gone through the trademark registration process, you know the challenges in trying to find out whether the idea is already protected.

Trademark applications are not cheap and the cost of re-filing again and again is a wasted expense. To ensure the application is filed right the first time round, it can take up numerous resources and time that you may not have. Even then, you might miss information about a trademark that could eventually put you in danger of infringement.

With a new tool being designed that can help you find information faster, this process may be easier than ever. This digital tool, called TrademarkNow, has been searching for venture capitalists to get it on the market. It recently received a $3.5 million investment from a company called Balderton Capital that will ensure it is used by millions of businesses. 

But how does it work? When hiring lawyers and taking more time seems a better research process, some might be skeptical of this new software. TrademarkNow touts the ability to gain instant results through its connected database of filed trademarks through the US Trademark Office. Their database connections are said to be error-free, so you can be sure of the results. That’s going to be essential when you have an overly creative name for your business you think isn’t being used anywhere else.

Yet, in a time when creative ideas are plentiful, the chances of your business name being used are more than good. It’s happened before, and it can sometimes be a David vs. Goliath situation if it’s a small business inadvertently violating a trademark for a larger company. Other times, it’s the other way around.

A system providing quicker trademark search was vastly needed because of the above situation. TrademarkNow also claims to be very easy to use so you don’t have to spend extra time learning it. They even stay away from using legalese so you can clearly understand the information it gives you. It’s all part of helping make your business life easier when protecting IP is becoming more necessary than ever.

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Note: This blog was originally posted on traklight.com by Emily Ely on July 6, 2014.

Traklight is the only self-guided software platform that helps small businesses and entrepreneurs identify and protect their intellectual property. Traklight is an innovative software company with a mission to help educate and empower you to be proactive in identifying, protecting, and leveraging your ideas for your startup, invention, or business. Through the use of online IP identification tools and resources, Traklight users can protect their IP, and prevent infringement disputes and subsequent losses of large sums of money. Follow Traklight on Facebook, Twitter, or their blog.