Trademark Registration on the Supplemental Register

Most people comprehend of the numerous benefits of owning 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 use in interstate commerce, be registered there and enjoy numerous presumptions since validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also has value, especially when the alternative is beyond the question at the beginning.

Before the benefits of being supplementally registered is discussed, you’ll want to understand that that your supplemental registration does not provide. Marks tend to be 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 spend the money for exclusive right to use the mark in commerce in a connection with its identified services or goods. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of the validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership of this mark. Finally, it’s an admission how the mark is not inherently distinctive.

While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s wish to be registered on the key Register, a supplemental registration has great things about its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a brand that tells consumers what is usually they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed to an inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) demands effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, although they be supplementally registered. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the main Register due with out having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered Online Trademark Name Search India 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 all. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the most benefits and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what may be a merely descriptive mark at the outset or didn’t acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where lots of deem as favored spot.