Now the question is – Should you trademark your sales process or not?

The best strategy is to think about trademarks from the very beginning. Before you solidly commit to a name and spend money marketing it, be sure to run a comprehensive trademark search. You’ll see whether there are any “confusingly similar” trademarks that might pose problems. The website to run that search is tmsearch.uspto.gov.

The second step is deciding if you want to file a trademark.

You don’t have to register your trademark with USPTO to have some protection. Unregistered marks may have “common law” protection in your immediate location or you may be able to register with your state for statewide protection. But neither of these are as strong as a federal trademark, which extends nationwide. If you go to this level, visit www.uspto.gov.

In general, you must use a trademark in your business in order to have trademark rights and you can search and file easily. You’re putting enough attention into your process that it’s worth serious consideration.