1. You don’t want to mess up when you are registering a trademark.

Registering a trademark is a lot like changing the alternator on an automobile. It’s pretty simple, and most people of average intelligence can do it themselves, but there some small details that can be incredibly destructive if you get it wrong. It’s better to have a mechanic handle the process of changing your alternator. It’s better to have a lawyer handle the process of registering your trademark. In either case, the work is more likely to get done right by someone who has done it hundreds of times and knows the small details that have to be carefully observed to make sure that everything works. In the case of changing an alternator, getting things right is the difference between going home safely and getting stranded… or maybe doing serious damage to your car. In the case of registering a trademark, doing things right may the difference between securing the exclusive use of your business name and losing that right… or worse maybe getting sued for infringing somebody else’s trademark.

2. If something does get messed up, you want to have somebody who will stand behind the work.

The other big advantage in hiring a lawyer to handle registering a trademark for you is that hiring a lawyer to handle registering a trademark means that there will be somebody to stand behind the work. If you make a mistake in your trademark application that costs you the right to exclusive use of your mark, you have nobody to blame but yourself. If you hire a lawyer to register your trademark for you, and the lawyer makes a mistake in registering your trademark, your lawyer has a large number of incentives, the least of which is the value of his own good name, to see to it that the mistake is fixed for you.

At the end of the day, if you end up with some sort of colossal mistake that costs you the right to use your business or product name, that mistake can cost you a lot of money. When you hire a lawyer to handle registering your trademark, and the mistake is made by the lawyer, his malpractice insurance may be available to help you pay those costs.

3. It just isn’t worth the inconvenience.

The final big advantage to hiring a lawyer to handle registering your trademark is convenience. Registering a trademark is handled by a part of the government called the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO is famous for long delays in responding to applications submitted by applicants for patents and trademarks. When you file your trademark application, rather than waiting on the USPTO to respond by yourself, having a lawyer handle the registering of your trademark means that you have made the lawyer responsible for remembering that the USPTO is expected to respond. You’ve made the lawyer responsible for following up if he doesn’t hear anything. Lawyers who spend a lot of their time registering trademarks will have computerized calendaring systems specifically designed to remind them to follow up on the trademarks that they are registering for their clients.