Most people understand of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration close to the Principal Register belonging to the United States Patent and Trademark Attorney in India Office (USPTO). In fact, trademark owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks solution to to be able to, upon use in interstate commerce, be registered there and watch numerous presumptions since validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register has the benefit of value, especially when the alternative is beyond the question at the beginning.
Before the benefits associated with being supplementally registered is discussed, when you understand that which a supplemental registration doesn’t provide. Marks tend to be 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 added with the mark in commerce in experience with its identified services or goods. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of this validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership of the mark. Finally, it may be an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s desire 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) demands effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, though they be supplementally outlined. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the key Register due with out 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 every one of the. 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 did not acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as favored spot.