Brand Registration on the Supplemental Register
Most people are aware of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration on Principal Register belonging to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In fact, trademark owners are urged by Online trademark name search attorneys to select distinctive marks to become to be able to, upon inside interstate commerce, be registered there and have numerous presumptions while validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also has value, especially when the alternative is your own the question the first time.
Before the great things about being supplementally registered is discussed, you’ll want to understand that which a supplemental registration does not 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 the source of the goods or services to which the objective pertains. Such placement does not pay the exclusive right unit the mark in commerce in 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 this mark. Finally, it may be an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s wish to be registered on the primary Register, a supplemental registration has great things about its own. In fact, some entities choose to have a brand that tells consumers what is usually they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed a good inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that needs effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, even though they be supplementally outlined. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the main 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 treaties.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at completely. 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 a merely descriptive mark at the outset or did not acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where lots of deem as the preferred spot.
