What is a trademark?

At one point or another, we’ve all seen a product or trade name with a little circled R floating next to it. You’ve probably wondered what this R symbol actually means and how exactly it got there in the first place. Most people will tell you that it means something in the sense of “registered”, but that is only a small part of the meaning behind the R.

Is it correct that this symbol implies the term registered, but registered with whom and how?

A “registered trademark”, or ®, refers to a name, slogan or logo that has been officially registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Registering a trademark is beneficial to a business because it publicly states that its trademark is registered with the USPTO, and therefore it has exclusive rights to that name within its industry. This means that if your company had a trademark and you found another company of a similar nature using your name or logo, you probably * have the legal right to use your name!

Every time a person applies for a trademark, the USPTO performs a cross-reference check of their name and / or design for similarities. among federally registered or pending trademarks ONLY. The USPTO search lacks the US national common law and state trademark databases.Because the USPTO protects names in this way, you do not risk being used by another company and possibly dirtying the reputation of the company you worked hard to build.

Once you have applied for your trademark, the USPTO will consider it a pending trademark for up to 18 months. This is one of the many reasons why it is important to apply for your trademark sooner rather than later. The sooner you apply, the sooner you will be doing business under a registered and protected name!

* This depends on whether the name is actually available at the time of submission. In other words, did a federal or state trademark previously exist? Was there an earlier use of the name under common law?