Can You Trademark a Name & Slogan Together?

Your business name and slogan work in concert to distinguish your business from the competition. Both the name and slogan are intellectual property you want to protect with federal trademark registration. By registering your property, you can prohibit your competition from using your marks for their personal gain. You also get civil remedies to sue in federal court for trademark infringement and collect damages.

Trademarks protect brand names, logos and slogans. Each trademark registration is limited to the drawing submitted with your application. When registering the name and slogan together, you receive trademark protection only when you use your name in conjunction with the slogan. If your name was used without the slogan, your trademark registration provides no protection. Using your name in a graphic or in conjunction with a slogan does not prevent others from using just your business name for profit.

By registering the name and slogan separately, you may use one without the other and receive full protection. As your business name is your corporate identity, you want free use to print it on whatever documents necessary -- minus the slogan -- and maintain your trademark privileges. Generally speaking, you want to submit a separate registration application for your business name, slogan, logo and domain name.

Over the course of your business, you may rebrand your product many times. Creating new slogans, new logos and new product designs is common in small-business marketing plans. Registering your name and slogan together requires a new registration each time you change your slogan. You may face complications when attempting to register your name and new slogan when replacing the old one. Separate registration means you only need to submit an application for your new slogan or logo. Your business name remains protected by your original trademark registration.

Small business may hope to bypass separate registration costs for the slogan and the name. You do a disservice to your business by trying to take a shortcut. It may cost more to register both items separately -- approximately $300 each -- but you save yourself money in the long run. You eliminate the need for duplicate registrations every time you launch a new product, change your slogan or rebrand your company.