Trademarks are related to service marks and trade names.Trademarks protect the association between one or more types of goods with a word, a symbol, a color, a sound, or some combination thereof.

Service marks are similar to trademarks, except that service mark protect the association between some type of good with a word, a symbol, a color, a sound, or some combination thereof.

Trade names protect the name of a business.

Trademarks, service marks, and trade names provide the owner with the right to prevent others from using an identical or confusingly similar mark or name.

Trademark, service mark, or trade name protection can last for an unlimited duration.

Trademarks, service marks, and trade names are protected by two different sets of sometimes overlapping laws, state law and federal law. Consequently, a party seeking to enforce a trademark, a service mark, or a trade name may have the option of suing in either federal court or in state court.

TRADEMARKS

Registration with the USPTO is also desirable if a party intends to use a mark with a good or service, but has not actually done so to date.

The USPTO categorizes marks into four different groups: trademarks; service marks; certification marks; and collective marks.Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods.

A service mark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.

A certification mark is any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce by someone other than its owner, to certify regional or other origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy, or other characteristics of such person’s goods or services, or that the work or labor on the goods or services was performed by members of a union or other organization.A collective mark is a trademark or service mark used, or intended to be used, in commerce, by the members of a cooperative, an association, or other collective group or organization, including a mark that indicates membership in a union, an association, or other organization.

TRADEMARKS

Trademarks may be registered with the USPTO or in individual states. Registration is not mandatory because protection begins as soon as a person begins using a mark in association with a good or service. However, registration does provide several advantages.We generally recommend registration with the USPTO over registration in an individual state because registration with the USPTO provides essentially all of the advantages of state registration, plus many additional advantages. The only real benefit of state registration is notice.

The USPTO categorizes marks into four different groups: trademarks; service marks; certification marks; and collective marks.

Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods.

A service mark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.A certification mark is any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce by someone other than its owner, to certify regional or other origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy, or other characteristics of such person’s goods or services, or that the work or labor on the goods or services was performed by members of a union or other organization.

A collective mark is a trademark or service mark used, or intended to be used, in commerce, by the members of a cooperative, an association, or other collective group or organization, including a mark that indicates membership in a union, an association, or other organization.

Trade names may also be registered with the USPTO when they are also used as
a trademark or service mark.Domain names are generally registered through a private domain name
registrar, but may also be registered as a trademark or service mark
when they function as a trademark or a service mark.