Federal Trademark Symbol Registration
Trademark Meaning: What is a Trademark?
A trademark symbol registration gets created to mark and discern goods, products, or services to indicate their source of ownership throughout the United States. A trademark can be a name, word, symbol, phrase, slogan, design, or an assortment of these. Customers identify you in the marketplace and differentiate you from your competitors through your trademark. Trademarks are intellectual property that provides legal protections for your brand. Trademarks don’t allow you to own or have rights to the use of words or phrases, only to how they get used with your products or services. Clever and distinctive trademarks are more effective and facilitate protection over generic and descriptive ones. A trademark symbol registration lets consumers and competitors know that you’re claiming the trademark.
Benefits of a Trademark Symbol Registration
A trademark enlists the power of the US Government in protecting your company and brand from infringement and the potential registration of confusingly similar marks. After registering your trademark, others will be able to search for existing trademarks and find yours unavailable to use, and the government will refuse registrations of existing trademark symbols. With non-registered trademark symbols, others don’t have limits using them in other geographic locations, whereas registered trademarks are unavailable nationwide. Registered trademark have the right to use ®, showing competitors that you’re serious about protecting your intellectual property. Trademark symbol registrations grant the right to sue in court and obtain monetary damages while also helping you to convince others to stop using a mark without the need to go to court.
Registered Trademark Symbol
You can use ™ on your trademark without federal registration, but to show your competition that it is registered nationwide and to repel intellectual property thieves, use ® or ©. The trademark symbols include:
- ™ (alt+0153 on your keyboard)
- ® (alt+0174)
- © (alt+0169)
Trademark Status: How long does it last?
A trademark symbol registration is perpetual while it gets renewed every ten years, although you can reapply in advance after the 5th year as long as it meets specific requirements. The trademark must still get used as it was when originally registered. You are responsible for policing and defending your trademarks and challenging any individual or entity trying to use or file a trademark overlapping your registration.
Trademark Examples
Many types of trademarks exist and can get combined in several ways. Examples of Trademarks include:
- Products
- Company logos
- Brand names
- Slogans
- Sounds
- Fictitious characters
- Symbols
State vs Federal Trademark
There are two types of trademark registrations in the U.S., state and federal. State trademark symbol registrations only protect your brand in that state and are usually simple and less expensive to do but could be taken from you in other states. Registering a federal trademark can be costly and require more effort but provides your trademark protection throughout the United States with greater legal capacity.
Servicemark vs Trademark
The difference between trademarks and service marks is that service marks get used for services, and trademarks typically refer to goods and products.
Trademark vs Copyright
The difference between a copyright and a trademark as intellectual property protection tools is that a copyright protects the contents and creations of a business, whereas a trademark protects the items that distinguish or identify a business entity from another, such as the logo or slogan.
U.S. Trademark Search: How to find out if your trademark is available
We ensure that your trademark is available with a preliminary USPTO trademark database search within our Federal Trademark service. If you’re unfamiliar with the database system, you can ask us to do it for you and avoid an incorrect trademark search and registration.
Trademark Registration Lawyers and Intellectual Property Law Firm
Spiegel & Utrera, P.A. wields nearly five decades of experience and commitment in helping entrepreneurs incorporate, litigate, and protect their business, assets, and intellectual property. Trademarks are a significant legal process, but the price doesn’t have to be; we will not be undersold while we stand behind a 110% lowest price guarantee. In most things, you get what you pay for, at AmeriLawyer.com, we provide top-quality service through subsidizing the cost to our clients via meticulous administration of resources. Call our law firm for a prompt and free consultation at (800) 603-3900 or fill out our short Trademark Inquiry Form and we’ll get back to you within a few business hours.
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