Most people comprehend of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration in regards to the Principal Register for the 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 inside interstate commerce, be registered there and have numerous presumptions for example validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also has value, especially when the alternative is associated with your the question at the beginning.
Before the primary advantages of being supplementally registered is discussed, should always understand that that your supplemental registration does not provide. Marks are often 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 goods or services to which the objective pertains. Such placement does not pay the exclusive right on this the mark in commerce in expertise of its identified services or goods. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of the validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership of your mark. Finally, regardless of how an admission how the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s hopeful registered on the main Register, a supplemental registration has primary advantages of its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a Online brand registration in India that tells consumers what everyone they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed a good inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that needs effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, even though they be supplementally licensed. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the key Register due going without 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 most benefits and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is probably a merely descriptive mark at the outset or has failed to acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as favored spot.