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Question of the Day: Can a Business Claim a Hashtag?

Can a business use hashtags? Of course.
Can a business use a hashtag as a trademark? Yes.
Can a business apply to register a hashtag as a trademark with the USPTO? Yes.
Can a business stop others from using the same hashtag? Not necessarily.

Trademark law is complicated in that each trademark consists of the mark itself and the product or service with which it is used. If someone’s using a similar trademark on an unrelated product or service, this permissible. This is why we can have Delta Airlines and Delta Faucets.

Hashtags work in a similar way. If it’s a hashtag that has widespread use, it would be hard to claim it as a trademark. If people are using the same hashtag that you’re using as a trademark for other purposes, you may not be able to stop them, depending on the circumstances. However considering hashtags can be part of your discussion about marketing campaigns.

Remember, if you want to get a registered trademark for a hashtag, it takes the USPTO at least 8 months to process an application. By the time you get that hashtag registered, you may not care about it anymore.

Ruth Carter is an attorney at Venjuris Law Firm in Phoenix, Arizona – a firm that focuses on business, intellectual property, and social media law. She is also a professional speaker, blogger, and author through Carter Law Firm.

More on this topic – Can you register a trademark for a hashtag: http://bit.ly/18qnsvM.

She also wrote The Legal Side of Blogging: How Not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed: http://amzn.to/1FpqUE2.

If you have questions or want to chat, you can see all the ways to contact and connect Ruth Carter here: http://carterlawaz.com/contact/.

Disclaimer: This video does not constitute legal advice. Watching this video does not create an attorney-client relationship with any viewer. If you need personalized legal advice, hire an attorney.