Intellectual property
is a legal field that deals with protecting ideas like new inventions, creative works and designs. A trademark is a symbol, word, phrase or combination of symbols, words and phrases that a company uses to distinguish its goods from others. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) allows individuals and businesses to officially register trademarks to protect them from being copied and used by others.
How are Trademarks Different from Copyrights and Patents?
Copyrights are intellectual property protections afforded to the creators of original creative works like fine art, music and literature. Patents are a type of intellectual property protection granted to the inventors of new devices, original designs for devices and the inventors or discoverers of new varieties of plants. If your idea is a new creative work or invention, it must be protected by copyright registration or a patent rather than trademark registration.
What is a Service Mark?
A service mark is a word, phase, symbol or combination of the three that a business uses to distinguish its services from others. The term trademark is often used to refer to both true trademarks (marks used to distinguish goods rather than services) and service marks.
Registration Process
Those interested in registering a trademark may fill out an electronic application using the USPTO's Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS.). The USPTO states that you will have to provide a variety of information related to the trademark including a depiction or drawing of the mark, the goods and services associated with the mark and an application filing fee, which is $325 for basic electronic filings as of 2011. You are not required to hire an attorney to register a trademark, but one may help you adhere to all the rules and regulations that govern the registration process.
Benefits of Registration
You may create and use trademarks without actually registering them with the USPTO just like you can generate creative works or make inventions without registering copyrights or securing patents. Trademark registration can, however, afford several notable benefits. The USTPO states that trademark registration offers advantages including legal presumption that you own the mark, listing in the USPTO online databases, the ability to bring actions concerning the mark to federal court (you can sue people who use your mark) and the right to use the R circle symbol in conjunction with the mark.
