What Issues Affect the Timing of Registration?
Deciding when to invest in a trademark registration can be a delicate timing issue. Depending on the strength of your trademark, the size of your budget, the importance of the trademark for your business, and your plans for international expansion, you may decide to file an early application (called an Intent to Use application) or delay registering your mark until a more opportune time. Quite often, large corporations file Intent to Use applications in order to secure their use of a mark prior to investing in printing and marketing costs. That way they can test a marketing idea and secure the rights in the trademark without investing in a national roll-out of the marketing plan. If the marketing strategy works, everything is in place to secure their rights in the trademark. If the strategy fails, they abandon the application for registration and move on to the next plan and the next trademark. If you file for registration before using your new trademark, you will have to file as an In
