Complete a project together. Sort of like a first date, planning initial activities with a partner enables you to work together without the pressure of eternal commitment. You and your partner don’t have to prove you are ideal mates. You also avoid jumping into a relationship that presumes you will do more than you want to do. The planning reduces the risk of unrealistic expectations.
The purpose of this exercise is to help document the task and relationship agreements you have with your partner. Check off each item as you fulfill the assignment. Document your agreements in a joint meeting.
Define the area of interest where you and your partner are going to create an initial activity (marketing, sales, product development, and so forth). Brainstorm a list of potential activities you can do together. Can you agree on one specific activity to work on together?
Document the start and stop point of the activity. Develop a timeline of the activity. Set the boundaries of the activity (what you won’t try to accomplish).
List the various roles and responsibilities of each partner.
Agree on the decision-making style to be used. Gain consensus on the strategy for resolving conflict. Allocate resource contributions and commitments in writing.
Create a set of criteria to evaluate the success or failure of the task objectives. Create a set of criteria to evaluate the success of the relationship development.
Trademarks do not have to be registered to obtain rights to prevent others from using the same or a similar trademark, but federal registration significantly enhances these rights in a trademark. You can claim exclusive rights to use your trademark, after you have searched the USPTO’s database to be certain that it is available, simply by putting the symbol ™ after your product name each and every time you use it. It costs nothing to do this and it provides notice to others of your claim to this trademark. It is not a federally registered trademark, however. A trademark registration can be obtained from both the state and federal governments. If a product/service is going to be sold across state lines . . . think Internet sales . . . then a federal trademark registration should be obtained. The cost for having a law firm prepare and prosecute a trademark registration application varies according to the number of classes in which the goods and services are to be registered. We were quoted prices averaging from $1,000 to $3,000 to obtain a federal trademark registration. But the cost can be higher depending upon the existence of similar trademarks. There are no maintenance fees for federal trademarks but federal trademark registrations must be renewed every ten years. Renewal cost at this time is around $500.
No matter what the initial fee is, you will not be required to come up with additional money until the first Office Action comes from the USPTO. This is not likely to occur for a year or longer, so you will have time to accumulate the money to pay for the response to that Office Action.