Archive for the ‘United States and Canada’ Category

United States federal trademark registration

Monday, January 18th, 2010

If you are trading or planning to trade in the United States marketplace, do not overlook the importance of trademark registration. The exclusive right to use a particular brand in the lucrative U.S. marketplace can mature into a competitive advantage of considerable value. Trademark registrations in the United States can provide protection at the state or federal level. As will be seen, there are substantial benefits to be gained from the federal registration option.

The alternatives

Before turning to the advantages of federal registration, it will be useful to briefly explore the alternatives, which are state trademark registration and common law protection for unregistered trademarks. For both of these types of protection, the trademark should already be in use in commerce in at least one U.S. geographic market (e.g. a state or city). (more…)

Posted in United States and Canada | No Comments »

Trademark registration in the United States

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Why register a trademark in the United States?

Trademark registration is not obligatory in the United States. Unregistered trade marks may be protected by the local courts if they are deemed to have sufficient reputation.

It is definitely advisable, however. Trademark registration confers a number of commercial and legal benefits on the owner. The most important reason for registering your trademark is to preserve the considerable investment that went into the development of your business brand. Asserting trademark rights based on mere use of a trademark (as you would have to do to protect an unregistered mark) is an expensive and time-consuming process. Moreover, it is a process entailing inherent uncertainty and risk. The fact is that only those marks with sufficient reputation to warrant unregistered protection will be granted relief against infringement, and it is not possible to know if your mark has such a reputation until you have launched an action in court. By this stage, it may be too late. (more…)

Posted in Trademarks by Region, United States and Canada | No Comments »

Trademark registration in Canada

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Why register a trademark in Canada?

Trademark registration is not compulsory in Canada. The local courts may protect unregistered trademarks if they are deemed to have sufficient reputation.

However, trademark registration confers a number of commercial and legal benefits on the owner. Most obviously, the trade mark owner enjoys the exclusive right to use the registered mark in Canada. Registration is direct (prima facie) evidence of exclusive ownership and helps ward off potential infringers. It enables you to more easily protect your rights should someone challenge them since the onus is on the challenger to prove rights in any dispute. (more…)

Posted in Trademarks by Region, United States and Canada | No Comments »