Trademark Use and Registration Basics
1. Trademark Selection – How to Select Valuable Trademarks
This podcast covers the concept of descriptive and non-distinctive “trademarks,” the spectrum of marks and trademark selection considerations, including the following “Four D’s” of trademark selection…
2. Trademark Clearance Searches – What are They and Why They Matter
In this podcast, I discuss the importance of U.S. and global trademark searches and clearance before trademark launch and trademark search considerations. I also discuss common misconceptions about trademark rights and what constitutes “confusingly similar” trademarks…
3. Should We Use TM, SM or ®?
Trademark marking generally refers to the use of the trademark designations “TM,” “SM” and ®, which are commonly accepted designations for identifying trademarks and indicating their ownership. When brand owners use their trademarks within the U.S. – the issue of whether to use the trademark symbols TM, SM or ® is relatively straightforward…
4. U.S. Trademark Registration Overview
A U.S. trademark application is filed based either upon an intent-to-use filing basis or based upon actual use of the mark in interstate commerce …
5. Trademark Application Specimens of Use – What are They?
For Goods: In general, an acceptable specimen must show use of the mark affixed to the goods themselves or the packaging for the goods (i.e., packaging, product itself, labels, tags). Alternative uses may also be acceptable, such as use of the mark on instruction manuals or product information inserts that travel with the goods and on point of sale displays…
6. Should I Register a Trademark in Color?
I often receive the following inquiry: Should I register a trademark in color?In most (if not almost all) cases, my answer is…
7. What are “Confusingly Similar” Trademarks?
In any likelihood of confusion analysis, the primary inquiry is whether consumers would be confused as to the source of the party’s respective goods. The issue of “confusingly similar trademarks” is not whether consumers would mistakenly purchase a bathrobe when they intend to purchase a t-shirt; that is not the analysis for “consumer confusion.” …
Rather, “consumer confusion” is based on whether …
8. Trademark Office Action Responses – Tips for Responding
One ground upon which an Examiner may refuse registration is “likelihood of confusion” or, in other words, that the Applicant’s mark is too similar to a mark (or marks) already listed on the USPTO database. In any trademark infringement and likelihood of confusion analysis, the primary issue is whether a selected mark is likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source of certain products and/or services…
9. How are U.S. and Global Trademark Rights Created?
Many brand owners fail to recognize that trademark rights they create in the United States, and possibly elsewhere, do not extend automatically into other countries. Therefore, extending those U.S. rights into other countries without first undertaking proper due diligence can result in infringing third party rights, being sued for trademark infringement, seizure of products at Customs and costly rebranding exercises in certain countries.
Accordingly, brand owners should understand how trademark rights are created internationally and then create strategic business plans…
10. Global Trademark Protection and Registration
This post and podcast summarize how U.S. and global trademark rights are created and the importance of trademark registration for national and global brand expansion…
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