Introduction
A trademark is a term, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies and differentiates the source of one party’s goods from those of another. It might be a name, a phrase, or simply a letter or number sequence. In business, trademarks are used to identify and differentiate one’s own products or services from those of others. They are a vital tool for firms to use in order to preserve client loyalty and brand awareness in their marketplaces. US Trademark Filing rights may be extremely significant assets since they restrict anyone from utilising your registered brand without your consent (which would cause customer confusion).
Trademarks differentiate your goods, services, and company from those of others.
Trademarks are a type of intellectual property that prevents brand infringement. They may be used to differentiate your products, services, and company from those of others. To receive trademark protection for your logo, you must first evaluate if it is eligible for trademark registration with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Before you may use your trademark in marketing materials, the USPTO requires that you have a federally registered trademark.
Is It Remarkable?
To be distinctive enough to merit trademark protection, your logo must be able to distinguish your company from others based on its name or product line. You may also be required to demonstrate how others would recognise the mark as being associated with either their own brand or the respective brand of an independent third party, such as Coca Cola® and Sprite® (both owned by The Coca-Cola Company), of nationwide ownership and exclusive rights to use the mark in commerce with respect to the goods and services identified in the registration.
The owner of a federal trademark registration may enforce his or her rights against third parties that use similar or identical marks on connected products or services, regardless of where they are situated. The owner may sue in federal court for infringement and seek statutory damages as well as lawyers’ costs. A court can also order an infringement to stop using its trademarks in any way that is not allowed.
Furthermore, federal trade mark registration provides owners with significant benefits when attempting to prevent others from registering confusingly similar marks or when attempting to recoup income gained by individuals who participated in trademark infringement before discovering their own mark was being infringed. Owners can use a federal registration as proof that they have precedence over other parties under state unfair competition rules; such priority is especially essential because it enables them access to the whole national market rather than just a single state’s territory (which would limit their ability to successfully assert their rights against other businesses).
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is a federal body in charge of trademark registration. It is in charge of reviewing trademark application, awarding trademarks, enforcing trademarks, and deleting them if needed.
The USPTO does not review or issue copyrights; it just registers them on the Library of Congress’s behalf.
Searching for trademarks can help you establish whether someone has previously filed or applied to register a mark that is similar to yours.
If no one else has the rights to your proposed trademark, you can file your application. If someone else has the same or a similar mark, you’ll need an other option or many options before proceeding.
If you want to file an application for a new business name/logo, we recommend first reviewing our database of federally registered trademarks, as we may be able to give some advise on if there are any potential conflicts with existing marks that exist.
By submitting a petition with the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, a federal trademark registration can be revoked or contested on a variety of reasons (TTAB). If a party other than the registrant submits the petition, it is referred to as a “opposition,” but if the registrant files it, it is referred to as a “cancellation.”
The following parties may submit an opposition to a registration cancellation:
A person who feels they have first-mover advantage in using the same or similar mark in commerce. For example, if you sell truck parts under another company’s name and want to prevent them from using that name for their business; an owner of a registered trademark who has been harmed by another’s unauthorised use of their mark; and/or any member of the public concerned about the proper use of trademarks.
Certain common law trademarks have also been determined to be protectable nonfunctional product configurations by courts.
A common law trademark is any term, name, symbol, or device (or a combination of these) that a business uses to identify its goods or services. But, before you go out and make your own, there are a few things you should know:
Trademark laws differ from state to state. While all 50 states have common law trademark rights, the laws vary widely amongst them. Federal registration under the Lanham Act and its modifications provides the most uniform protection. [6] A mark with secondary meaning is more likely to fulfil this condition than one that has not yet acquired such significance. [7] For example, if the name “Apple Computer” was used on computers built by other firms rather than only Apple Inc., it would likely develop secondary meaning as customers identify this phrase with computers made by Apple Inc. rather than simply any computer company called Apple. [8]
One of the first things you should do if you want to get a trademark registration is to study the fundamental processes of getting a trademark registration through the USPTO.
The first step toward obtaining a trademark registration is to submit an application to the USPTO. This form is available on their website, or you may request it by phone or mail. The filing price for this application is $275 per class, plus a $325 electronic filing charge per class if your application includes new matter (i.e., changes from previous applications).
After you submit your completed application, an examiner at the USPTO will check it to see if there are any difficulties that impede acceptance, such as conflicting marks or unregistrable marks (those that aren’t eligible). If there are no concerns blocking approval, your mark can be published after six months unless you pay an extra cost to seek an earlier date. At this stage, your mark will be searched in both cases—when no difficulties exist and when they do—so that you may check for conflicts before advancing with registration activities. *
We may begin aggressively looking for any potential conflicts between any similar or identical trademarks throughout our search process once all appropriate documentation have been received and filed properly, with all applicable fees paid. In other words, if someone else has already registered their “XYZ” mark, we won’t be able to register ours without performing some preliminary work (more on this later!).
Conclusion
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is in charge of reviewing US trademark application. After your US trademark application has been accepted, you must pay the filing fee and submit a declaration of use (Section 8 Declaration). The USPTO will then send you an Office action, which will allow you to react with proof of use or intend to use your mark in commerce in connection with all of the products or services indicated in your application.
