![]() You will need to make additional USPTO filings to maintain your registration, starting 5 years after issuance, then renewal at 10 years.If you don't enforce your trademark, and it starts to get widely used "generically", you could lose your trademark protection. If your trademark is approved, you'll be responsible for enforcing it by taking legal action if someone else begins using it. The USPTO does not enforce trademarks, other than preventing others from registering a brand confusingly similar to those already registered. Naming a lantern company "Lantern" is an example. Generic marks are in widespread, common use, and it would be impossible to enforce a trademark protection. It is not possible to trademark a word that falls into this category. Calling a cleaning service "Wash and Scrub Cleaners" would be descriptive. This category of marks is considered weak there's a good chance other people could independently use the same mark, which would make the trademark protection difficult to enforce. Using "Soft and bright" as the slogan for an undershirt company would be suggestive. Marks in this category aren't quite as strong as those considered fanciful or arbitrary, but you can still get a suggestive mark trademarked if it meets other requirements. A suggestive mark is one that suggests, but doesn't overtly describe, a certain service or product. For example, naming a shoe company "Brunnox" would be fanciful, and naming a beer product "Flashlight" would be arbitrary. Made-up words and words that aren't usually associated with a certain product or service fall into this category. Fanciful or arbitrary marks are the strongest type, because there's a slim chance someone else would independently think them up and start using them. Here are the categories, from strongest to weakest: The USPTO divides marks into four different categories different strength levels, and those that fall into the "weaker" categories have very little chance of getting trademarked. government agency responsible for registering and protecting patents and trademarks Go to source The mark must have a non-intuitive, secondary meaning that represents your services or product, and no one else's. ![]() ![]() X Trustworthy Source United States Patent and Trademark Office U.S. The first step in the trademark process is to make sure your name - or "mark" - fits the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) definition of strong. This article has been viewed 171,006 times.ĭetermine whether your mark is strong. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. WikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. Rutman has extensive experience turning start-up ideas into strategic assets and has published his work in many leading professional journals in the field. in Physics from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. He holds a BS degree in Physics from Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude, and an MS and Ph.D. Rutman specializes in drafting patent applications in various fields such as physics, computer hardware and software, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, green energy, and software. Jeremy Rutman is a Patent Attorney and the CEO and Founder of RutmanIP, a boutique intellectual property firm in Israel. This article was co-authored by Jeremy Rutman, PhD.
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