Trademark value for startup site?

[Sunrise10]

I have never trademarked anything and am researching the process and expenses.

My business partner and I are creating a website that is unique to our knowledge and have a catchy tagline (slogan).

Since the site is not up yet and not making any money and we have no idea if it will do well, we are wondering if it's worth the expense of protecting the tagline with a trademark.

It is currently NOT trademarked.

What is the risk that we have of someone else trademarking the slogan and preventing us from using it? Is this a common practice?

It would have to be a business with deep pockets to do this and to trademark it in all the various spellings and punctuations.

There are multiple ways of presenting the tagline - with or without punctuation marks - and each version would need to be trademarked to prevent us from using it.

Is this a common practice - people trademarking something and preventing others (original sources) from using it?

Is this a viable concern?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

You don't need to trademark all the various kinds of spellings if they are extremely similar - so similar that the average person would think that the product or service is being provide by the same company. For example, Coca-Cola does not have to trademark Koca-Cola since the connection is clear as to a soda drink that is produced by a company with a unique name that people would associate with Coca-Cola. As I don't know the name you are referring to, if it is so similar and in the same line of business, this general rule should apply. The goal of trademark is to ensure that a brand which is clear as to who is providing a good or service, isn't confused by someone else's mark. Does this make sense?

 

[Sunrise10]

Yes, thank you. That makes sense.

I called the trademark office to ask questions and was informed by someone who works there that I would need to obtain a separate trademark for each variation and spelling.

That would certainly add up fast and benefit their piggy banks, wouldn't it?