Hallmark Registration on the Additional Register
Most people understand of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration within Principal Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In fact, trademark owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks in a position to be able to, upon use in interstate commerce, be registered there and watch numerous presumptions because validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register has the benefit of value, especially when the alternative is away from the question at the beginning.
Before the benefits of being supplementally registered is discussed, should always 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 supply of the goods or services to which the objective pertains. Such placement does not spend the money for exclusive right added with the mark in commerce in expertise of its identified goods or services. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of your validity of the registered mark or Online TM Public Search India of the trademark registrant’s ownership within the mark. Finally, it’s an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s wish to be registered on the main Register, a supplemental registration has great things about 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 for inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that needs 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 key 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 take benefit from certain international agreements.
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 usually a merely descriptive mark at the outset or didn’t acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as favored spot.
