Most people comprehend of the numerous benefits of having 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 in order to be able to, upon used interstate commerce, be registered there and savor numerous presumptions since validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also provides value, especially as soon as the alternative is your own the question when you’re getting started.
Before the benefits associated with being supplementally registered is discussed, you’ll want to understand that that your 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 services or goods to which the mark pertains. Such placement does not pay the 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 trademark registrant’s ownership within the mark. Finally, it is 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 primary advantages of its own. In fact, some entities choose to have a brand that tells consumers what it is they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed with regard 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, even though they be supplementally created. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the key Register due going without 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 advantages of certain international treaties.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at any. 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 did not acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as favored spot.