Most people are aware of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration close to the Principal Register from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In fact, Online Trademark Registration Search owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks that you simply can to be able to, upon easily use in interstate commerce, be registered there and watch numerous presumptions such as validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also has value, especially once the alternative is associated with your the question the first time.
Before the benefits of being supplementally registered is discussed, should always understand that which a supplemental registration doesn’t provide. Marks frequently relegated to the Supplemental Register because, at the request of the USPTO examining attorney, the marks are merely descriptive and therefore not a distinctive identifier of the source of the services or goods to which the mark pertains. Such placement does not afford the exclusive right added with the mark in commerce in connection with its identified services or goods. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of this validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership of this mark. Finally, it may an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s try to be registered on the primary Register, a supplemental registration has great things about its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a brand that tells consumers what it is they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed to an inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that requires effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, although they be supplementally registered. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the key Register due with out having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and leverage on certain international treaties.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at all. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the best results and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is probably a merely descriptive mark at the outset or did not acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where lots of deem as the preferred spot.