Amy Weishaar, Lawrence, watches her 2-year-old daughter Molly paint at Googols of Fun, 4931 W. Sixth St. Googols of Fun owner Amy Gottschamer protected the name of her business by registering it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

When Amy Gottschamer founded Googols of Fun – with eyes on starting sites elsewhere – she knew she needed to protect her company’s name.

So she logged onto the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site and filed for a registered trademark.

“It was just something we felt we ought to do,” says Gottschamer, president of the children’s fun and learning center at 4931 W. Sixth St. “It’s like an insurance policy. We want to make sure nobody can take that from us.”

It’s a process that seldom makes the news, and then only when disputes arise. Such a controversy arose recently when Kansas University and Kutztown University (in Pennsylvania) both claimed use of the mark “KU.” The colleges are working on an agreement to settle the trademark issue.

Another high-profile dispute arose in 2004, when hardware chain The Home Depot claimed local remodeling business Old Home Depot violated its registered trademark. Old Home Depot later changed its name to the Old Home Store.

To avoid those problems, many Lawrence businesses have opted to pursue securing similar protection, based on a search of the federal trademark registry.

The Patent and Trademark Office offers protection for business or product names, guaranteeing the names can’t be used by others.

The local trademarks or trademark applications include “Muck Fizzou,” applied for by Larry Sinks for his T-shirt business, Joe-College.com; “Tattoo Undo,” applied for by Dale Denning for a tattoo removal service; “Get sconed,” applied by for Norman’s Dream Inc. for pastries.

The Patent and Trademark Office receives more than 700,000 trademark applications each year – enough that it has an eight- to 12-month lag in approving applications.

The process is fairly simple, says Brad Finkeldei, an attorney with Stevens & Brand, 900 Mass.

Unlike patent applications, trademarks generally don’t require attorneys to handle the process. It’s just a matter of filling out a few pages of online forms, submitting images of your logo and paying a fee of $235. In some cases, applications must be made to multiple categories, requiring an additional application fee.

“The idea is before you spend money marketing yourself, you should try at least to protect it,” Finkeldei says.

Even if a business or product name isn’t registered with the federal trademark agency, a company may still have legal rights to use the name. But having it registered is an extra protection if the matter ends up in court.

“At the very least, everyone should get online and search this trademark database,” Finkeldei says. “It shows the ones that have been granted and the ones that are in the process. At the very least, if you don’t go out and protect yourself right away, you can make sure no one has it first.”

For Gottschamer and Googols of Fun, the trademark registration was a matter of planning for the future, as they look to expand into other markets where other people might think of creating another “Googols of Fun.”

“I don’t know what case might come up,” Gottschamer says. “I wanted to make sure nobody else was (using) it.”