Most people understand of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration on the Principal Register of 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 used interstate commerce, be registered there and watch numerous presumptions because validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register comes with value, especially as soon as the alternative is associated with your the question when you’re getting started.
Before the great things about being supplementally registered is discussed, you’ll want to 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 the source of the goods or services to which the mark pertains. Such placement does not afford the exclusive right also included with the mark in commerce in connection with its identified services or goods. 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’s an admission how the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s wish to be registered on the principal Register, a supplemental registration has great things about its own. In fact, some entities choose to have a Online Brand Protection in India that tells consumers what this is they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed for inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that requires effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, whilst they be supplementally licensed. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the principal Register due there having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and profit by certain international agreements.
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 is likely a merely descriptive mark at the outset or did not acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as the preferred spot.