Trademark Registration on the Supplemental Register
Most people are aware of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration in regards 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 in order to be able to, upon use in interstate commerce, be registered there and have numerous presumptions while validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also has value, especially when the alternative is beyond the question at the beginning.
Before the benefits of being supplementally registered is discussed, should always understand that that your supplemental registration doesn’t provide. Marks typically be 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 goods or services to which the potential pertains. Such placement does not spend the money for exclusive right also included with the mark in commerce in a connection with its identified goods or services. 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 your mark. Finally, it is an admission how the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s wish to be registered on the principal Register, a supplemental registration has great things about its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a brand that tells consumers what is usually they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed with regard to an inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) demands effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, though they be supplementally registered. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the key Register due going without having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and advantages of certain international treaties.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at any. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the best results and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what may be 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.
