Patent Attorney and Founder
If you’re looking to trademark your motorcycle club’s name and patches, here’s what you need to know. I’ve worked with a few clubs on this before, so I can break it down simply.
You can register your club with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As long as your club’s name isn’t tied to a specific location, you’re good to go. The USPTO has categories for different types of businesses, and motorcycle clubs can fall into one of them. Think of it like registering a social club.
Now, if your club has a charitable side, like raising money for cancer awareness or maintaining a memorial wall, you could register as a non-profit, too. It doesn’t matter if you’re for-profit or non-profit. The trademark process works for both.
The key part is that you don’t need to be selling anything to register. I worked with one club where they raised money for memorial plaques. They didn’t sell products, but they had proof of donations. We used pictures from their website and photos of the memorial wall with their branding on it.
So, whether you’re a for-profit club or have a charitable mission, you can register a trademark for your name and patches. Just make sure you show evidence of use, like how people donate to your cause.