Introduction
Trademarks are a means to protect your company’s identity, goods, logo, and other designs that provide you a competitive advantage. US Trademark registration can be used to prohibit others from using identical or similar marks on their own goods and services in order to mislead consumers into believing that such goods and services are provided by your organisation. A trademark is essentially a brand name, emblem, or slogan connected with certain goods and services offered by a specific company or people.
Trademark law in the United States
A trademark is a term, phrase, logo, or design that identifies and differentiates one product or service from another. The United States Patent and Trademark Office can register a trademark (USPTO).
Under the Lanham Act, the USPTO registers trademarks. The Lanham Act classifies marks eligible for registration as imaginative or arbitrary, suggestive, descriptive, or generic.
Check to see if the mark is in use in commerce.
Applicants who wish to get their trademark registered must follow specific steps. The most crucial of these measures is establishing that the mark is in commercial use.
This implies that even if you have a trademark but haven’t used it yet, you can’t register it until you can demonstrate that you’ve been using it for at least a year before filing for registration. When filing for registration, an applicant often submits a specimen of the mark as proof of use in commerce.
Finish your trademark application and pay the filing fee.
The USPTO trademark filing fee will be paid in two instalments. A nonrefundable filing cost of $225 is payable when you file your application, and an application-processing charge of $100 is due within one month of filing. Both fees can be paid online, or by check or money order made payable to the “United States Patent and Trademark Office” (USPTO).
To pay by credit card, contact 1-800-786-9199 Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), except federal holidays.
You can also submit money by postal mail to “United States Patent and Trademark Office” or “U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.” Please include your name in any correspondence with our office so that we know who returned which documents!
Wait for your application to be reviewed by an examining attorney.
After you submit your US trademark application, it will be assigned to an examining attorney who will evaluate it. The examining attorney is the individual in charge of deciding whether or not your application satisfies all of the criteria of US trademark law as well as the technical requirements for registration. They’ll look to see whether you’ve produced a specimen, if your mark is unique, if there are any other similar marks in use that might cause confusion with yours, and other factors.
If everything checks out, the examiner will issue an Office Action detailing what has to be addressed before your application may be approved. If everything seems fine after they’ve reviewed it, they’ll submit it back to me (a different examiner) so I can approve it if they suggest it!
Within six months, respond to any Office actions taken by the examiner.
The examiner will issue you an Office action, which is a letter in which he or she explains why the trademark application was denied. You must respond to the examiner’s letter with arguments outlining why your application should not be denied. Your application will be abandoned if you do not react to the Office action within six months (extended by one month for each request for information or correction).
If you choose to react to an Office action, your response will be evaluated by another examiner at the USPTO, and you may be asked further questions before final registration approval.
If your mark is authorised, you must wait for it to be published in the Official Gazette.
Your trademark will be published in the Official Gazette after it has been granted. This allows third parties who may be concerned about your application to file an objection. If you haven’t heard from the USPTO within three months after publication, you can presume your mark has been granted.
If someone objects to your registration after it has been published, they must submit an objection with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). The TTAB will rule on whether or not their objections are valid, and if so, what changes should be made by the applicant or opposer (s).
If you have not yet used your mark in commerce, file a Statement of Use (SOU) or an Extension Request.
To register a trademark if you have not yet used it in commerce, you must file a Statement of Use (SOU) or an Extension Request.
After you submit your SOU or Extension Request, the Trademark Office will analyse it to ensure that it is in formal conformity with the approval criteria. If they are authorised, they will send you a Notice of Allowance (NOA). If someone else has already been using a similar trademark, you still have no rights under federal law at this time.
After then, you can file up to three further documents: Response to Notice of Allowance, Intent-to-Use Application, and Amendment to Allege Use/Amendment from Intention-to-Use Application.
What exactly is a trademark?
A trademark is a term, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies and differentiates the origin of products or services. A service mark is similar to a trademark in that it identifies and differentiates the provider of a service as opposed to commodities.
What exactly is a communal mark?
A collective mark indicates an organization’s membership rather than particular products or services. School insignia, club emblems, union names and seals, and other symbols used by groups to denote their participation in an association or organisation are examples of collective trademarks. In contrast to trademarks created by individuals or businesses to identify their products or services, collective trademarks are created by organisations such as schools, clubs, or labour unions for use solely on behalf of their members when they are acting together for a common purpose related to those members’ interests. For example, if you’re a member of an auto racing team with numerous members, each of whom owns his own car but competes under your name solely to get exposure by association with your well-known team name (e.g., Team X), then any logos linked with this team would be regarded “collective marks.”
Conclusion
If you want to file a trademark , consulting with an expert attorney can undoubtedly guide you through the procedure.
