Trademark Law

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Your brand is how the outside world sees your company. Over time, if you’re doing things right, your brand accumulates goodwill. We can help you use trademarks to prevent others from profiting from the goodwill of your brand and causing confusion as to who and what your brand represents.

Trademark Services

What exactly is a trademark?

Like the other intellectual property rights, a trademark is a “right”—that is, its holder can exclude others from doing what’s protected by the right.

What rights does a trademark grant?

Trademarks protect the public by prohibiting use of marks that are likely to cause confusion as to the source of goods or services. To accomplish this, a trademark is considered to have a zone of protection, which may be broad, narrow, weak, or strong.

What is eligible for a trademark?

A trademark can protect various parts of a brand that associate a good or service with its provider, including:

A trademark’s strength includes where it currently lies on the spectrum of distinctiveness:

Distinctive

Not Distinctive

To be registered on the Principal Register in the United States, a trademark must be distinctive.

How long does a trademark last?

As long as the mark is continually used in commerce, trademarks last indefinitely. Registered trademarks must be renewed with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office between 5 and 6 years from registration, then between 9 and 10 years from registration and every ten years thereafter. State trademark renewal rules vary.

Are there exceptions to trademark protection?

The main exception to the exclusivity of trademark rights includes uses of the trademark that are not likely to confuse the market as to the origin of a good or service. For instance, a newspaper may be able to print the name of a company in a news story without confusion as to whether the newspaper originated from the company whose trademark was printed.

What is the difference between a trademark and a patent, copyright, or trade secret?

Trademarks protect brands and the goodwill associated with them. In contrast, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets all protect particular things. There is no practical overlap between trademarks and patents or trade secrets with respect to what can be protected, as the latter protect functionality and design of things. However, there is some overlap between trademarks and copyrights.

Why register a trademark?

Trademark rights and goodwill accrue to a mark through use of the mark. Registration is not required for a trademark to gain distinctiveness and accrue goodwill. But, trademark registration does provide the following:

Constructive nationwide public notice of ownership claim.
Legal presumption of ownership of the mark.
Legal presumption of right to use the mark in commerce in connection with listed goods or services.
The ability to use the ® symbol with the mark (unregistered marks can use ™).
Date of constructive use of the mark (the filing date, regardless of filing basis).
The ability to bring action in federal court.
The ability to submit to the U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing goods.
The ability to claim right to use is incontestible.
The ability to use a U.S. registration as a basis for registration abroad.

Who owns a trademark?

A trademark is owned by the person or organization who uses or licenses the use of the trademark in commerce. Like other classes of intellectual property, trademarks can be bought, sold, licensed, and more, though aspects of goodwill accrual and quality control must be taken into account.