When should we consider getting ®, when ™, and when both? Please help explain to a five year old entrepreneur from India.
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Use ™ to indicate a trademark, like the name of your business or the name of a product. It helps people to understand that it’s not a generic term and they shouldn’t copy it.
To get legal protection you need to register your trademark. You need to do this in every country where you want trademark protection. In the U.S. you pay a small fee (a few hundred dollars) and pick a category (like software, clothing, etc.) and then many months later if there are no objections you get it approved. Then you can start using ®.
In the U.S. at least, you cannot register your trademark until AFTER you start actually using your business name. So if you’re just starting out a business, don’t worry about this yet. Find a good name that’s not too generic and that you’re pretty confident nobody else is using, then buy the domain names and start selling things under that name. Use ™ if you want.
Then, after you’ve started using it, register the trademark in countries where you do business. Then if successful use ®.
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