Michael Atkins - Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Recommend Use Should Drive Form of Trademark to Register (Email)

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Clients often ask what form of trademark they should register.

Two words mashed together. Or with a space. Or a stylized version. Or a logo.

What’s the best form?

First, a trademark owner in the States doesn’t need to register its mark at all if it doesn’t want to. It automatically gets common law rights in the mark simply by using it in customer sales. When we talk about registering a mark — either with a state or with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — we’re talking about building on and expanding those automatic, localized rights that automatically arise through use.

Because of this, the form of use should drive what the owner seeks to expand through registration.

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Copyright © 2006-2021, Michael G. Atkins. All rights reserved. I'm a partner and Seattle intellectual property attorney at Atkins Intellectual Property, PLLC, where I focus my practice on issues involving the Lanham Act, including trademark infringement, unfair competition, trade dress infringement, trademark dilution, false designation of origin, counterfeiting, cybersquatting, trademark licensing, trademark applications, trademark registrations, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), and the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Thanks for checking out my blog. Please visit again soon!