You built it. Now protect the name.

It is not too late, but every day you operate without a filing is a day a competitor can establish priority. Trademark rights in the U.S. go to the first to file, not the first to use. Your prior use does give you some common law rights in the geographic areas where you operate, and those rights can strengthen your application — but they do not substitute for a federal registration. The moment you file, your priority date is locked in and your nationwide rights begin to accrue. A clearance search will tell us quickly whether the name is available and what your path to registration looks like.

Most software products file primarily in Class 42, which covers software as a service, software development, and technology platform services. Depending on what your product does, you may also need coverage in other classes — Class 35 for business management software, Class 36 for fintech products, Class 38 for communication platforms, or others. Filing in the wrong class means your brand is unprotected in the categories that actually matter to your business. Getting class selection right is one of the most important things an attorney does on a software trademark application, and one of the most common mistakes people make when filing on their own.

Not automatically. Under U.S. copyright law, independent contractors own the work they create unless a written agreement explicitly assigns those rights to you or designates the work as made for hire. This is one of the most common IP gaps investors flag during due diligence on software companies. If your contractors signed no IP assignment agreement — or if the agreement is ambiguous — there is a real question about who legally owns parts of your codebase. The situation is usually fixable, but it is substantially easier and cheaper to resolve before a funding round closes than during one. A Work for Hire Advisory walks through what you have, what you are missing, and how to close the gaps.

Your source code is automatically protected by copyright the moment it is written. Registration does not create the right — it enforces it. Without registration, you cannot sue for infringement in federal court, and you cannot recover statutory damages or attorney's fees. With registration, you can. For software companies, this matters most when a competitor copies code, a former contractor redistributes proprietary work, or someone forks your codebase commercially without authorization. If any of those scenarios would be worth fighting, registration is what gives you the standing to do it. Registration before infringement occurs — or within three months of first publication — is the threshold that preserves your access to the strongest remedies.

Your options depend on whether you have a registered trademark, when you started using your mark, and how similar the competing product actually is in the same market. With a federal registration, you have clear legal standing — a cease and desist letter, a USPTO opposition if they have filed, or a cancellation proceeding if they have registered. Without a registration, you can assert common law rights based on prior use, but enforcement is harder, slower, and more expensive to pursue. If user confusion is already happening, time matters. A consultation to assess what rights you actually have is the right first move before you do anything else.

Investors typically want to confirm three things during IP due diligence: that your product name is either registered or has a pending application with a clean clearance search, that your company owns all the code and product IP it relies on — including anything built by contractors or co-founders — and that there are no outstanding conflicts or claims against the brand. A pending trademark application with documented clearance is usually sufficient for most seed and Series A rounds. Contractor IP assignment gaps are the most common issue that stalls or complicates closings. We can do a quick IP audit before your round to identify what you have, what you are missing, and what needs to be resolved before diligence begins.