Trade Mark Patron provides professional trademark registration, renewal, and monitoring services in the USA. Safeguard your brand identity with our trusted expertise.

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FAQ’S

Trademark Patron
FAQ’S

Frequently Asked Questions – Everything You Need to Know!

Trademark Patron is not a law firm and none of the information on this website constitutes or is intended to convey legal advice. General information about the law is not the same as advice about the application of the law in a particular factual or legal situation. Individual facts and circumstances as well as legal principles including but not limited to the ones referenced on this website can affect the outcome of any given situation. Trademark Patron cannot and does not guarantee that an application will be approved by the USPTO, that a mark will be protected from infringement under common US trademark law, or that any ensuing litigation or dispute will lead to a favorable outcome. If you want or have an interest in obtaining legal advice with respect to a specific situation or set of circumstances, you should consult with the lawyer of your choice
Under U.S. law, a “common law trademark” is generally established when someone uses a company name, logo or slogan in commerce, even if it is not registered. So, why pay to register a trademark when a common law trademark may already exist? Common law rights ordinarily are limited to the geographic area where the mark is used as opposed to the nationwide protection customarily obtained when a mark is registered with the USPTO. So, unless registered, the use of a mark can be geographically limited, which hampers the ability to expand the brand. On the other hand, a person using a mark in a limited geographic area could be boxed in by someone else who offensively registers a similar mark. In addition, registration of a trademark can give the person holding the registered trademark a leg up in court as to the validity of the mark and the date of usage in later trademark infringement litigation, if it comes to that. There are also favorable remedies available to registered trademark owners in the event of litigation. Finally, once a trademark is accepted by the USPTO, it will be maintained in the USPTO database, which can discourage others from using the mark in the future. Future companies should be on notice that the mark is already spoken for, which should in turn help avoid at least some disputes.
The United State Patent and Trademark Office will not necessarily approve every name for a trademark. The USPTO generally describes names as “generic,” “descriptive,” “suggestive,” “arbitrary,” or “fanciful.” A trademark application is more likely to be registered by the USPTO the less “generic” or more “fanciful” it is.

Generic names are rarely given protection. For example, a company that makes screwdrivers and tries to trademark the name “The Screwdriver Company” is unlikely to be successful. Merely descriptive names are also unlikely to receive registrations from the USPTO. For instance, “The Metal Screwdriver Company” is not likely to pass muster because it merely describes a screwdriver as being made of metal.

Much like how the availability of a corporate name in a given state does not necessarily provide superior trademark rights to use the name in commerce, the availability of the domain name is not an indication either. A company could have a trademark name on a product or service, but not have acquired the domain name.

The availability of the domain name should be one part of a comprehensive search, which Trademark Patron offers, to help evaluate the strength of a brand name or slogan and the likelihood of a trademark being approved.Using a domain name as part of a brand that sells goods or services may establish common law trademark rights. A “common law” trademark can be established when a name, logo or slogan is used in commerce, even if it is not registered. Common law rights, however, are limited to the geographic area where the mark is actually used as opposed to the nationwide protection typically established by registration of a mark with the USPTO.

The geographic limitations of an unregistered mark can make it difficult to expand a business. On the other hand, a person using a mark in a limited geographic area could be boxed in by someone else who offensively registers a similar mark. In addition, registration of a trademark customarily gives the person holding the registered trademark a leg up in court as to the validity of the mark and the date of usage in later trademark infringement litigation, if it comes to that. There are also favorable remedies available to registered trademark owners in the event of litigation. Finally, once a trademark is accepted by the USPTO, it should be maintained in the USPTO database, which can discourage others from using the mark in the future. Future companies should be on notice that the mark is already spoken for, which should in turn help avoid at least some disputes.

General benefits to registering a mark:

  • Nationwide protection
  • Presumed right to the exclusive use of the mark nationwide
  • Presumed validity of the mark in a lawsuit
  • Additional remedies in court
  • May increase the value of the company
  • You can record the mark with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which may help stop importation of infringing or counterfeit goods into the U.S.
  • The right to use the ® symbol
Is it common to also register the web address or the plural version?

A trademark registration for a company name may also protect the company’s web address when it encompasses the company name followed by “.com.” The USPTO says the .com or other gTLD does not identify the source of goods and services and so it generally does not consider the .com part of a company’s name. An online business that commonly refer to itself by the name of the website may want to only register the domain name.

Even without registering the domain name as a separate mark, a registered trademark can help prevent cybersquatting and or the use of confusingly similar domain names. In the United States, the Anti-Cyber Squatting Consumer Protection Act and the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Process may provide additional rights and remedies to holders of registered trademarks.