Is a trademark protected if not registered?
If you do not register your trademark, you will have legal rights only within the geographic areas where you operate. Although the range of protection is limited to the region where you use your unregistered trademark, you can protect an unregistered but valid trademark from infringement and dilution under common law.
Can you use a trademark before it is registered?
TM? Before your mark is registered, you can put TM for trademark or SM for service mark. You can actually do this once you assert your rights to a mark, regardless of filing a trademark application.
What protection does trademark give?
A trademark protects a good or service offered by a company from infringement or damage of reputation by another company. With a trademark, you have legal recourse to sue another company that uses your likeness to further their own business ventures. This includes both registered and unregistered trademarks.
What is the difference between a registered and unregistered trademark?
For registered marks, among other things there is legal presumption of mark ownership, legal presumption of the exclusive right to use, and it puts the public on notice of ownership. For unregistered marks, there is no legal presumption of ownership and exclusive right to use.
How do I get trademark protection?
If you want to apply for trademark protection, you can file a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You can go to uspto.gov to file the trademark application online.
Can brand name be legally protected?
Trademarking a brand name is obtaining legal protection over its usage in a specific country. Every Government has an office that registers the brand names as trademarks owned by any particular individual, company or group of individuals. This gives those individuals and companies the right to its usage in the market.
How is trademark protected?
Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights. How can I protect my trademark? At the national/regional level, trademark protection can be obtained through registration, by filing an application for registration with the national/regional trademark office and paying the required fees.
How do you register a trademark?
Tips To register a trademark, go to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Web site, www.uspto.gov. Make sure someone else hasn’t already registered the mark your category by checking the Trademark Electronic Search System database .
What needs to be trademarked?
Generally, trademark registration covers names, slogans, logos, short phrases and other similar identifiers that describe goods or services. In order to be eligible for trademark protection, the mark must serve to identify a particular good or service.
How to trademark a name for free?
Many people end up looking for how to trademark a name for free. It’s a bit complicated. You can not register a trademark for free. However, you can establish something known as a “common law trademark” for free, simply by opening for business.
When and how do I have to use trademark symbols?
You can use a registered trademark symbol as soon as you have officially registered your trademark with an appropriate government agency. Prior to this registration, you should use the unregistered trademark or service mark symbols, as this usage is often necessary to help demonstrate a trademark during registration.