If no one files an opposition to the trademark after it is published, it will be registered. However, if there are any issues with the application, the examining attorney will send an office action to the applicant.
The applicant must provide a response that corrects any problems listed in the office action, usually within six months.
Failure to do so means the logo will not be approved. Once the logo is registered with the USPTO, a trademark owner will have exclusive rights to use the logo within the approved goods or services class anywhere in the U.
The owner may sue for any unlawful use of the logo, and may file to stop foreign goods with your logo from being imported into the U. Business owners can set up a trademark watch by hiring an attorney or specialized service. The attorney or service will continuously monitor and search for illegal use of a trademarked logo.
For those concerned with fraud or misuse, a service like this may be useful in catching such issues. A copyright protects creative works like books, movies, music, artwork or computer programs. A trademark, to contrast, is a unique phrase, word, symbol or design that represents a company or brand that provides goods or services. It is typically in marketing materials or to label products. Logos are often eligible for both trademark and copyright registration.
A copyright protects the original design from unauthorized copying, while a trademark helps prevent the logo from being used by a competitor business.. Copyrights are automatically earned upon production of a work in a tangible medium, but registration adds benefit. If you hire someone to create your logo, be sure you have a written agreement giving your business the copyright to the logo. This gives you control over how it can be used and reproduced. Nolo offers hundreds of consumer-friendly do-it-yourself legal products written in plain English.
On average it takes several months to more than a year for a trademark application to be processed and approved. If there are complications such as re-examination or amendments to the initial application, the process may take significantly longer. Anyone can apply online to register a logo. Experts often recommend that business owners hire an attorney or specialized service to handle the process from beginning to end. While more expensive, this ensures that the trademark is researched thoroughly, the application is prepared properly, and any complications will be aptly handled.
For businesses based outside the U. There may be additional fees paid directly to an attorney or specialized service if the business owner chooses to hire them. Yes, a logo can be both copyrighted and trademarked. However, the use of the logo must have some relevance to the work. For example, it would not be wise to publish an article critical of overseas auto manufacturing practices and include the Chevrolet logo unless Chevrolet was, in fact, mentioned in the article.
Finally, you are also permitted to use trademarks for purposes of parody or commentary. For example, if you were writing a skit about how young people are always on their phones, you could glue the Samsung logo onto the actors' prop phones without fearing a claim of trademark infringement. Under trademark law specifically, 15 U. For example, you could create a newspaper advertisement that incorporates your mark and your competitors' marks in order to describe a difference between the companies.
Imagine that you make a type of coffee that you believe to be tastier and less expensive than any other company's product. You could include on your advertisement the logo of Starbucks along with the price of its comparable drink from another coffee company. Two important caveats apply here, however. First, you may not alter your competitors' trademarks in a way that is derogatory or misleading. For example, you cannot dress up as Ronald McDonald and make him look unattractive!
These activities could subject you to a claim of trademark disparagement. Second, any comparative information that you use must be accurate. While subjective statements which coffee tastes better, which product is easier to use, and so forth are difficult to judge for accuracy, factual information is not. If you say that Apple uses deadly chemicals in its iPhones that could leak into users' hands, that also would need to be true. In other words, any lies associated with your use of a competitor's trademark could subject you up to a claim of trademark infringement or disparagement.
Third Party Use When you permit a third party to use your trademarks, it is important to ensure your marks are used with proper designations. You should consider providing the third party with guidelines for using the marks for example, how the marks should appear, when designation should be used, and whether an attribution statement must be made.
In the case of licensees, you should also ask them to periodically send you samples of use e. Finally, you should include reviews of third-party uses of your marks in the marketplace with an eye to appropriate, non-generic usage as part of your general policing activities. Further, it is your responsibility to police and continue use of your marks. Patrick J. Pat co-chairs the Trademarks and Brands practice , with over 25 years of experience devoted to helping businesses Maximizing the protection and value of intellectual property assets is often the cornerstone of a business's success and even survival.
In this blog, Nutter's Intellectual Property attorneys provide news updates and practical tips in patent portfolio development, IP litigation, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and licensing. Let's Talk Every great solution starts with a good conversation. Proper Use of Trademarks and Trademark Symbols. By Patrick J. It's widely accepted to place it at the top left corner of the mark in the superscript text. If it doesn't look good there, you can drop it to the bottom right corner in subscript text.
But putting it elsewhere is rare. When you add TM to the mark, it makes sense to move forward with the trademark application. Make sure you include all required documentation. When you're trademarking a logo or symbol, include an image of the mark exactly how it will look when you use it on your product, collateral, or other materials. It's also important to note that you'll only receive trademark protection on the exact design.
So you may want to file several applications for a logo or symbol. If you plan to use it in more than one color, submit an application for each version, including one in black and white. This protects your mark in all forms. Once you receive approval on your trademark application, you can legally start using the registered symbol.
Using the symbol shows all competitors, customers, and others in the industry that you legally own the rights to this mark. When using either mark in print, the general rule is to use it in the first instance of the mark. After that, you can stop using it without losing legal protection. There are four main reasons that trademark laws exist:. Using the TM symbol isn't as important or regulated as using the registered symbol on your company's mark. Because TM doesn't have any legal meaning, you don't actually have to use it unless you want to.
But it does serve a purpose in helping alert others in your industry that you are laying your claim on this design, phrase, or word for your business. The purpose of registering a trademark is to avoid confusion among consumers. Prior to trademark laws, companies could copy each other's designs or create similar marks.
This led to confusion because consumers didn't know exactly what company made a specific product. Without clear logos, symbols, phrases, words, or other designs, it's hard to stay loyal to a brand. But when companies could use something nearly identical to their packaging, customers might not be able to tell the difference.
A competitor can purposely use a similar mark to cause confusion and encourage customers to buy its product instead. There are some basic laws that protect businesses, including common law trademark rights.
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