Most people are aware of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration on the Principal Register for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In fact, trademark owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks to become to be able to, upon easily use in interstate commerce, be registered there and have numerous presumptions while validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also provides value, especially as soon as the alternative is associated with your the question the first time.
Before the advantages of being supplementally registered is discussed, you’ll want to understand that which a supplemental registration doesn’t provide. Marks are often 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 goods or services to which the mark pertains. Such placement does not pay the exclusive right to use the mark in commerce limited liability Partnerhsip Agreement in India a connection with its identified goods or services. 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 your mark. Finally, it is an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s desire to be registered on the main Register, a supplemental registration has 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 to an inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that requires effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, whilst they be supplementally outlined. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the main Register due going without running shoes having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and profit by certain international treaties.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at any. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the most benefits and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is likely to be a merely descriptive mark at the outset or has failed to acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where lots of deem as favored spot.