Logo Registration on the Extra Register
Most people are aware of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration in regards to the Principal Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). limited liability Partnerhsip Agreement in India fact, trademark owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks solution to to be able to, upon easily use in interstate commerce, be registered there and watch numerous presumptions while validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register even offers value, especially once the alternative is beyond the question the first time.
Before the benefits of being supplementally registered is discussed, when you understand that which a supplemental registration doesn’t provide. Marks frequently 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 supply of the services or goods to which the objective pertains. Such placement does not give the exclusive right on this the mark in commerce in experience with its identified services or goods. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence from the validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership of the mark. Finally, it may an admission how the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s hopeful registered on the principal Register, a supplemental registration has primary advantages of its own. In fact, some entities choose to have a brand that tells consumers what is actually always they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed for inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that requires effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, although they be supplementally registered. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the primary Register due to it having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and leverage on certain international agreements.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at everything. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the best results and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is probably a merely descriptive mark at the outset or did not acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as the preferred spot.
