Registering your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office has many benefits. These benefits are national protection and an increase in the overall strength of your brand. With regards to national protection, registering your trademark with the USPTO gives you exclusive right to use your trademark nationwide. For example, if you register a trademark for a service you provide in New York, you can stop a person in Texas from using your trademark to sell a similar service. On top of that, you get to build a stronger brand. Don’t spend valuable time and resources to promote a brand you do not own.

Extremely important. Doing a search before you register a trademark allows you to do a few things. On the one hand, it will enable you to know what else is out there that is protected so if your potential application is going to conflict with one of these existing applications it can save you a lot of time and resources to do a search before to decide as to whether or not you should even apply. Just because by doing a search, you can make sure that the money you are going to be investing in your brand is going to be worth it.

A trademark can last for an indefinite period. As long as you are continually using your trademark, you can get the benefits of trademark protection. However, from time to time, you are going to have to show the USPTO that you are still using it. They require you to update them periodically to make sure you still deserve this protection, and you are not tying it up for someone else to use it.  

Yes, and no. You can submit multiple trademark applications at once; however, each application can only be for one particular trademark. For example, if you want to trademark your logo but also the word that appears in your logo, you would need to submit two separate trademark applications. 

A trademark registered with the USPTO is known as a registered trademark. An unregistered trademark is a trademark that you are using to promote your goods or services but just have not registered it with the office.

Yes. You can apply for a trademark if you are not a citizen, and you can apply for a trademark if you do not have a US-based company. You would want to make sure you had an attorney to handle the application. Still, you do not need to be a citizen or have a company in the United States to have a trademark in the United States. 

The difference between filing a trademark as an individual and a company comes down to who owns the trademark. In the United States, a company such as an LLC or a corporation has certain ownership rights similar to that of a person. If you file a trademark and you assign that to a company, you do not own that trademark, the company does. So, making the distinction as to whether or not you want this to be owned by a person or a company is an important distinction to make. As a general matter, if your business is transacting under a corporation or a limited liability company, you should probably have that trademark be assigned to the company that is transacting.

Generally, you cannot trademark a song or book title. There are some exceptions like if your book title is a title of a series you are selling, you can trademark that because it is being used as a series. 

If somebody starts using your trademark, the first thing that you would need to do is figure out if they have the right to use that trademark. Depending on how the use is being done, they might have a trademark that is different than how you are using it, and therefore they would be entitled to use it. Assuming the person doesn't have the right to use it, the first thing that you can do is send a cease and desist letter. A cease and desist letter informs the recipient your rights are being infringed upon and allows the infringer to stop using it. If the cease and desist letter does not pan out, then the next step might be to file a lawsuit.