First of all, protect and lay claim to your design and ideas. Very easy to do. Take copies of all the designs, text, etc. that pertain to the item your looking to trade mark. Take it, and put it in a manilla envelope, and send it to yourself by Registered Mail. The reason your doing this is:
#1 You have established a time line of your design/idea, it will be time stamped and dated. If someone at a later date were to say it is their property, you can prove that is not correct. You had it first.
#2 The info is certified through the process of Registered Mail, what you say is in there, has been there since the moment of registration.
#3 You have hard proof in hand to present in court should you ever have to go that far to protect your property.
Do not open the envelope, keep it in a safe place. If and when opened, have it witnessed, (most likely done in court where your actions would be seen, otherwise it
could be deemed void. When I've done this, I do two at the same time, nice to have a spare just in case.)
Now you need to have a trademark/patent lawyer help you with a search, and all the rest of the legalize. Do not give up any info or design until you see a lawyer and have letters of disclosure drawn up.
Sniper
