Most people are aware of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration close to the Principal Register from 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 inside interstate commerce, be registered there and enjoy numerous presumptions such as validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register even offers value, especially when the alternative is out of the question initially.
Before the advantages of being supplementally registered is discussed, should always understand that which a supplemental registration doesn’t 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 supply of the services or goods to which the objective pertains. Such placement does not spend the money for exclusive right to use the mark in commerce in experience with its identified services or goods. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of your validity of the registered mark or of the Online Trademark Registration in India registrant’s ownership within the 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 primary advantages of its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a brand that tells consumers what this is they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed for 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 licensed. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the primary 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 take benefit from certain international treaties.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at all. 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 the preferred spot.