To register trade marks in America, the United States Patent and Trademark Office is the place that will process your paper work. There are many places willing to do it for you, but they all charge a fee and they file it in the same place you would have to, the USPTO.

The process is simple. First, you need to know if your word, phrase, design or symbol is unique and original. This is done by searching the trade mark data base at the USPTO website. There is no charge for this, but it is time consuming. This is where the companies that offer this service earn their money. The data base is broken up into two different sections.

There is the section for 1791 till 1975. This only allows a limited way to search due to the way they are saved in the data base. The second section is for every trademark that has been covered from 1976 till the present day. There is usually a one week deal in accessing the most recent, but that is acceptable for most people. This has 37 different ways to search the data base looking for a similar trademark.

This process with the USPTO will cover your trademark in the United States. A trademark will only be granted if you and your company have interstate commerce with the product you plan to trade mark.  If your product is going to be sold overseas, a US trade mark is still recommended. Once this is granted, the process for filing under the Madrid protocol is easier.

To register trade marks under the Madrid protocol means it will protect your mark in nearly 90% of the countries in the world, but only if they all approve of it. There is no worldwide trade mark coverage at this time.