Trademarks and Trademark Application
A trademark is a word, a phrase, a symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs identifying and distinguishing the source of the goods of one party from the source of the goods of others. (www.uspto.gov)
A service mark is the same as a trademark, but it differs from it in that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than of a product.
A trademark application is the process of applying your products name, symbol or design to your National Trademark Office. In most countries, a trademark application can be issued online and without any legal advice or the assistance of a law firm. However, a trademark lawyer or trademark attorney might be very welcomein complex cases.
The National Trademark Office of the United States is called the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). All national trademark offices are non-commercial government bodies. They provide the public with information about trademarks, patents and trademark applications, and some countries’ national trademark offices offer the possibility to issue an online trademark application.
Unregistered trademarks or trademarks in the application process are marked as follows: TM. A registered trademark is distinguished with this symbol: ®.
Most National Trademark Offices have a trademark register where you can find all the registered trademarks in that country. Trademark registers can be consulted online or via library archives.
To apply your trademark, you will have to contact the National Trademark Office of your home country. A trademark always covers a country or a region. A trademark is thus never guaranteed worldwide. When you limit your trademark application to the national office of your country, your trademark will not be valid or guaranteed outside of the borders of your country. To extend the validity of your trademark, you will have to register the trademark in the country you wish to extend your trademark to. Before 1996, this meant that a trademark application needed to be issued in every specific country you wished your trademark to be valid and protected in.
In 1996, however, the Madrid Protocol came into effect. The Madrid Protocol allows you to extend the trademark application or the registered trademark to any of the Madrid Protocols memberstates without having to address every countrys individual trademark office. Read more about the Madrid Protocol!
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Trademark @ September 11, 2007