What are Common Law Trademark Rights? Why are they Important? Common law trademark rights are authorized by federal and state laws. They exist without registration. These unregistered trademarks can cause problems with your registration and use of a trademark. That is, unregistered trademark rights can pop up at any time before, during, or after [...]
What Is the Trademark Process and Timeline for Your Trademark Application? The trademark process and timeline described below sets out the general path a trademark application takes in its lifecycle. Registering a trademark or trademarking a logo is a legal process. As a legal process, the trademark application path can take many turns subject [...]
Trademark Attorney Riddle Comments on the Trademark Dispute a Gettysburg School District. Trademark Attorney Charles Riddle was cited in several articles by the Gettysburg Times about a trademark controversy concerning the Gettysburg Area School District logo. In one Article, Gettysburg Times identified Attorney Riddle as a “Trademark Expert”. Here Are [...]
Trademark Symbol - ™ vs ® Trademark ™ - The TM Symbol - The Trademark Symbol The Trademark symbol (™), "The TM Symbol" is often used on logos, names, phrases, or words. The TM Symbol is used proactively by companies to indicate the mark is their own exclusive property. The Trademark ™ [...]
Benefits of Trademark Registration - Should You Register Your Mark? It’s a fundamental question in trademark law: What are the benefits of a registered trademark? I must discuss this at least three times week with trademark clients. In addition to providing a general sense of security, there are numerous benefits of trademark registration that [...]
What are the Differences Between Standard Character Marks and Design Marks? When submitting a trademark application for your business, it is important to decide whether to submit a Standard Character Trademark (aka Word Mark), or should you register to trademark a logo or design mark. Clients regularly ask which of these they should [...]
Why Trademark Searches Are Not 100% Accurate Trademark searches cannot predict with 100% accuracy whether your trademark application will be blocked by a trademark registration, or prior filed application. In fact, the only time a trademark search is 100% is when the exact trademark mark is found for the exact same services. If this [...]
International Trademark Applications and the Madrid Protocol International Trademark Applications : The Madrid Protocol is an international trademark registration system set up by treaties with many foreign nations. The United States is a member of the Madrid Protocol. As such, U.S. trademark applicants can access the Madrid Protocol system to extend its trademark [...]
What is Intent to Use (ITU) Trademark Application? The Intent to Use (ITU) Trademark Application is an application that can be filed to reserve rights in a trademark prior to its actual use in commerce. You should consider filing an ITU Trademark application if you have already found the perfect name for your business [...]
What is a Trademark? Can Anything Be a Trademark? A trademark is a brand identifier. A trademark can be practically anything that is capable of identifying a source of goods. For example, a trademark can be a word, logo or graphic design, a slogan. A trademark can even be a sound, a [...]