In this candid and in-depth episode of Tourpreneur, we are joined by Gordon Firemark of Firemark Entertainment Law Offices, who specializes in the podcast and other entertainment copyright. I chat with him today about the ins and outs of trademark law for your tour company, when you should hire a lawyer and why you should trademark your tour company name. Registered trademarks are a concern for many Tourpreneurs, and I'm not a legal expert, so I've asked Gordon Firemark, who specializes in entertainment law and expert about trademarks in the United States. About the question of trademarking your name, Gordon says, "The short answer, I think is yes." Your brand name is what allows you to grow your business. Another person can start a company using a name that is confusingly similar to your own name, and that could really undermine your marketing and promotional efforts and slow down growth. Trademark registration is an essential way of protecting against this happening. "I would say this is near the top of the list of things to do from a legal standpoint and as you're getting a business off the ground." Trademarks are designed to protect distinctive names. Descriptive terms don't pass muster with the trademark registration folks until they've been used long enough to have acquired a secondary meaning in the mind of the consuming public. Make sure to choose your name wisely and choose a name that's distinctive so that you don't have the pushback in those early days. You really have to evaluate what your time is worth. You may spend two or three hours that the lawyer would complete under an hour and know your application is made right. What's your time worth for that when you could be either out running a tour and getting things taken care of so you have the bandwidth to do activities that are important for your business.