Trademarks
What is a Trademark?
A trademark identifies and distinguishes the source of goods and services of one party from those of another. A trademark usually consists of a word, phrase, design or a combination thereof, but may also consist of sounds, colors or shapes. For example, the following familiar things all have trademark protection: the Tarzan yell; the shade of brown used by UPS for its vans, uniforms and advertising; and the shape of the Coca-Cola bottle.
Because a company's trademarks are so closely associated with its image and reputation, they constitute an important and valuable type of intellectual property right. Trademark protection confers the right to exclude others from using the mark or from using a mark so similar as to be confusing.
Three symbols are commonly used to indicate trademark protection:
- TM ("Trademark") is used to indicate a claim of trademark rights for a product. Registration of the mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is not required when using the TM symbol, but the mark must already be in use in commerce or there must be a good faith intention to do so.
- SM ("Service Mark") is used to identify and distinguish the provider of a service from another service provider. As with the TM symbol, registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is not required, but the mark must be in use in commerce or there must be a good faith intention to do so.
- ® indicates that the mark is "registered" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The term of protection is ten years, but it is renewable indefinitely as long as the mark is still in use in commerce.
