Cognate

Cognate is the first step in trademark protection.

Common law trademark rights in the U.S. are earned simply through “use in commerce.” These rights can even supersede federally registered trademarks in certain situations.

Cognate is a common law trademark registry that allows users to publicly document proof of their trademark rights. Users of Cognate:
– Gain right to use CM certification mark with trademark (ex: CognateCM)
– Put potential infringers on notice of “use”
– Create timeline of use of trademark, and subsequent rights
– Receive email alerts from monitoring algorithm that tracks improper use of marks (USPTO + private databases)

Federal (USPTO) trademark registration takes 10 months, and costs $225 per mark, per class. If you hire a lawyer that cost will quadruple. Cognate takes under 8 minutes and costs $29.95/yr or $49.95/5 years.
Essentially, we’re a private-sector trademark registration platform. Every company should have access to trademark protection.