Introduction
Trademarks are an important part of any business, but it can be challenging to know whether your brand is ready for a federal trademark registration or whether you should register it first. Here we’ll discuss what the difference between a trademark and registered trademark is; why small businesses need to register their trademarks; how exactly this process works; and more!
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods of one party from those of others. Before you can apply for a federal trademark registration in the U.S., you must use your trademark on goods or services in commerce.
The benefits of registering your trademark include:
- A strong legal protection against infringers who try to profit off your hard work by using similar names or logos;
- Control over how others use your business name and logo;
- Proof that you created the mark before it became widely known;
- The right to register with other countries’ governments under an international treaty agreement called Madrid Protocol; and finally – A relatively small investment which will end up paying off big time!
The difference between a trademark and a registered trademark is that one is not the other. A trademark is simply a word, symbol, logo, or phrase that identifies the source of goods or services. A registered trademark is one that has been approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and is part of the USPTO’s federal register of trademarks. The USPTO falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce within the federal government in Washington DC but it’s still important to note that just because something gets registered doesn’t mean it will stick around forever: there are plenty of cases where companies have tried to get their trademarks cancelled when they don’t feel like paying maintenance fees anymore
Once you have received your registered trademark certificate, you will be able to put ® next to your mark (for trademarks in registered form) instead of TM (for trademarks not yet registered).
The ® symbol indicates that the trademark has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by filing an application for registration. This shows the public that your brand name is exclusive because no other business can use it in its products or services unless they obtain a federal trademark registration themselves. However, having a registered trademark doesn’t mean that no one else can use it—just as long as they don’t confuse consumers into thinking that their product is yours or otherwise infringe upon or dilute your brand identity. A federal registration gives you these rights but does not prevent others from using certain words generically; for example, if someone writes a book titled “The Social Network” about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and then sells this book at Barnes & Noble stores across America, then Facebook could still take legal action against them under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act (the law governing federal intellectual property rights) over copyright infringement even though B&N would likely be using “Social Network” descriptively rather than as an identifier for its own products/services; however, if B&N did want to sell t-shirts with “Facebook” written on them along with some sort of logo depicting Mark Zuck’s face just like those sold by his company itself…then there would probably be grounds here too under Section 43(a).
- Unlike an unregistered trademark, a registered trademark provides your business with certain legal protections that can help prevent competitors from using a similar brand name.
- Registered trademarks are more easily enforced through legal action in court. Unregistered trademarks can be hard to enforce as they often rely on the goodwill of the court system to provide protection against copycats or other competitors who steal their branding ideas.
- A registered trademark can be used to stop others from using a similar brand name and logo. This makes it much easier for you to defend your business against unfair competition, since you have both legal rights and proof that the trademark is yours (i.e., registration). In some cases, even if someone else has used a similar mark before you did and was successful at registering his/her mark first (even if only by one day), he/she will still have difficulty enforcing his/her claim because it’s likely that consumers would still associate him with earlier products rather than being confused by his newer ones—especially when those new products aren’t confusingly similar!
When you register your trademark, you’ll have proof that the brand was approved by the USPTO. This makes it easier for you to enforce your trademarks in court, because courts are more likely to side with a registered trademark than an unregistered one.
In addition to being easier to enforce, registered trademarks are also harder to counterfeit or imitate. You can use this as leverage in negotiations with other companies who might want to use your brand without permission; if they refuse, then they risk losing everything—including their reputation and credibility—by selling knockoff products under a fake name.
It’s important for small businesses to register their trademarks as doing so provides them with federal protection against copycats and other competitors who steal their branding ideas.
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods or services. You can apply for trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). When you do so, you receive federal protection against copycats who try to use your brand name without permission.
It’s important for small businesses to register their trademarks as doing so provides them with federal protection against copycats and other competitors who steal their branding ideas. You cannot enforce a valid trademark without registration; furthermore, if it’s not registered before you start using it in commerce—or when you enter into business transactions—you run the risk of losing rights in your unregistered mark under common law principles that protect goodwill interests in brands used commercially.
When businesses apply for trademark registration with the USPTO they can choose whether they want to obtain registration based on intent-to-use basis or based on current use basis (also known as “actual use”).
Conclusion
A registered trademark is a powerful tool for protecting your brand and defending it against infringers. It’s also important to register your trademark as soon as possible because federal protection only lasts for 10 years. If you don’t register your mark within five years after first use, then it will be forever lost from the public record unless someone else files a trademark application for it with the USPTO before then.
