What are the benefits of a registered trademark?

Many people assume they can protect their trademark simply by using the mark in commerce. It is true that you are not required to register a trademark to achieve some level of protection and that one establishes common law rights simply by using a mark in commerce.

However, having a federally registered trademark on the USPTO's principal register provides several advantages:

• Serves as constructive notice to the public of the registrant's ownership of the trademark
• Establishes a legal presumption of your ownership of the mark and your exclusive right to use the trademark nationwide on or in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the registration
• Allows the registrant to bring an action concerning the trademark in federal court
• U.S. registration can be used as a basis to obtain registration in foreign countries
• Can be filed with U.S. Customs to prevent the importation of infringing foreign goods

Federal registration also allows you to use the ® (the "Circle-R") symbol. Any time you claim rights in a trademark, you may use the ™ (trademark) or ℠ (service mark) symbol to alert the public to your claim, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the USPTO. However, you can only use the federal registration symbol ® after the USPTO has actually registered the trademark, not without an application or while an application is pending. Following registration, you can only use the ® symbol on or in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the federal trademark registration.

What is a service mark?

A service mark is simply a type of trademark. In fact, the words "trademark" and "mark" often refer to both trademarks and service marks. Trademarks help the government and consumers distinguish manufacturers of goods or products from one another. A service mark helps the the government and consumers distinguish service providers from one another. Common law service marks are accompanied by ℠ as opposed to the ™ of common law trademarks. Both goods and services with federally registered trademarks use an ® symbol.

How long does it take for a trademark to be registered?

It is hard to predict how long it will take for an application to mature into a registration since many factors can affect the process. Generally, an applicant will receive a filing receipt almost instantly after filing. In addition, you should receive an initial response from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) within approximately three months of filing the application.

However, the total application processing time may be anywhere from 6 months to a year, or even longer. Most applications are processed completely in slightly less than one year. Overall processing time depends on your basis for filing and any legal issues that arise in the examination process.

Current status on trademark applications and registrations can be obtained by accessing the Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval database online at http://tarr.uspto.gov/. To check on average processing times, please visit http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/trademarks/main.dashxml.