Cognate.com Launches New Trademark Listing Platform

Boston, MA, September 20, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Boston-based startup Cognate has just launched the country's first online platform enabling companies to make a fast, affordable claim to their trademark rights. Over 95% of businesses never register their trademarks or business names with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) because the system is costly and complicated. Cognate provides a way for all companies to make a clear and public claim to trademark rights they have already earned.

Often, businesses are unaware of their common law trademark rights. These are rights earned simply by using a mark or name to do business. Cognate provides business owners an inexpensive way to claim the often-invaluable common law rights they own, using registration criteria similar to the USPTO. This is the first viable alternative to federal registration for companies who do not choose – or are not yet ready – to seek federal registration.

Cognate does not aim to replace federal trademark registration, but rather to provide companies with another option for listing their trademark rights. Says co-founder Jess Collen, “The overwhelming majority of business and product names are never registered, and that is a shame because it deprives the public of full and complete information about a company’s name or mark.”

For more information, visit cognate.com/FAQ.

About Cognate
Cognate was created so that companies – specifically startups and small businesses – do not have to balance claiming their trademark rights with the cost and time associated with filing a government registration.

Cognate was co-founded by the father-son team of Jess and Bennett Collen, both Boston College graduates. Jess is an intellectual property lawyer with over 28 years of experience, while Bennett is the CEO and took the company from concept to the product that exists today.

For more about Cognate, visit cognate.com.