Most people know the of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration on the Principal Register of your 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 revel in numerous presumptions such as validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also provides value, especially when the alternative is your own the question the first time.
Before the benefits associated with being supplementally registered is discussed, should always 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 potential pertains. Such placement does not afford the exclusive right added with the mark in commerce in expertise of its identified goods or services. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence from the validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership of your mark. Finally, it may an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s desire to be registered on the principal Register, a supplemental registration has benefits of its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a Online Brand Registration India that tells consumers what is actually always they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed to an inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that needs effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, though they be supplementally licensed. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the main Register due to it having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and leverage on certain international treaties.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at all. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the best results and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what usually a merely descriptive mark at the outset or has failed to acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as the preferred spot.