Most people comprehend of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration in regards 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 solution to to be able to, upon handy in interstate commerce, be registered there and revel in numerous presumptions such as validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register even offers value, especially once the alternative is beyond the question most important.
Before the benefits associated with being supplementally registered is discussed, it is important to understand that which a 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 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 expertise of 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 trademark registrant’s ownership of the 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 principal Register, a supplemental registration has great things about 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 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, although they be supplementally disclosed. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the principal Register due with out having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered Online Trademark Registration In India symbol, sue in federal court, and advantages of 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 best results and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is likely a merely descriptive mark at the outset or has failed to acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as the preferred spot.