Registering a Slogan, Hashtag, or Title of a Creative Work: A Practitioner's Guide
By Casey Scott McKay ·
This guide is the operational half of the Marksy article on slogans, hashtags, and titles, and it assumes you know why each category is treated differently. It runs each of the three through its own filing sequence across fourteen stages, beginning with an intake triage that identifies what the client's real trademark asset is - which is almost never the phrase they came in about. For slogans it supplies a pre-filing viability test, a usage program that builds registrability over time, specimen guidance, and refusal responses. For hashtags it explains what to file, what to ignore, and how to generate a specimen that shows brand use rather than tagging. For titles it works through the single-work diagnostic, the Class 41 services route that solves most podcast and production problems, the evidence and timing that establish a series, and the character and imprint filings that carry a franchise. It closes with the copyright layer that protects the work itself and an enforcement section covering all three categories.
IP and Technology > Trademarks | Guide | Published 4 July 2025 - Updated 21 June 2026 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. This guide is the operational half of the Marksy article on slogans, hashtags, and titles, and it assumes you know why each category is treated differently. It runs each of the three through its own filing sequence across fourteen stages, beginning with an intake triage that identifies what the client's real trademark asset is — which is almost never the phrase they came in about. For slogans it supplies a pre-filing viability test, a usage program that builds registrability over time, specimen guidance, and refusal responses. For hashtags it explains what to file, what to ignore, and how to generate a specimen that shows brand use rather than tagging. For titles it works through the single-work diagnostic, the Class 41 services route that solves most podcast and production problems, the evidence and timing that establish a series, and the character and imprint filings that carry a franchise. It closes with the copyright layer that protects the work itself and an enforcement section covering all three categories.
Keywords: slogan viability test · tagline usage program · slogan specimen · hashtag application strategy · campaign specimen · single work diagnostic · series title evidence · class 41 service mark title · imprint registration · character mark filing · franchise portfolio · copyright layer creative property · slogan enforcement · title enforcement · trademark notice discipline · informational refusal response · second work timing · creator handle filing · portfolio sequencing
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