Trademark advice needed

[LadyAmalthea]

There is this popular sports team design in our area that has a popular local saying. The team symbol can easily fit in place of one of the letters making it really unique. The symbol is generic symbol. I decided to make a logo using the symbol in place of one letter of the saying. I did not use their trademarked symbol but rather a freehand design of my own, which looks different. I applied for the trademark for this logo through my state for clothes and jewelry. I was giving the trademark only for jewelry because the team has rights to something similar for clothing stickers, etc. Theirs is essentially the saying with the symbol between the two words or underneath the saying. I don't want to have a conflict or be infringing so I asked the lady at the state if it was okay for me to use. The lady at the state office checked with her supervisor and said that I can use it for jewelry only. Can this lead to a problem for me? Also, if it turns out later that they have a problem with it, what will come of it? Will I just have to turn rights over to them? I am not in a position to be fighting with their attorneys. I am only a small business. I just have never seen any jewelry like this and thought it would be a good idea.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

It's very difficult to determine your case. The more unique the saying the more challenging it may be to trademark if someone else has it and the saying is a famous mark and is accorded that status. With regard to your registering a mark, you have to pay for each "class" you want to register. If someone else has a mark in a different class, you would have trademark issues, e.g. you own a mark for "Acme" for a barbershop and you wanted to expand it to Acme Frozen Foods which someone else has. Good luck with your filing and I would definitely speak to a trademark specialist first for something as important as this.