Most people understand of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration on Principal Register for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In fact, Online Trademark Name Search owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks in order to be able to, upon use in interstate commerce, be registered there and have numerous presumptions while validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register even offers value, especially as soon as the alternative is beyond the question most important.
Before the great things about being supplementally registered is discussed, it is important 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 supply of the goods or services to which the mark pertains. Such placement does not spend the money for exclusive right also included with the mark in commerce in a connection with 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 this mark. Finally, it is an admission that 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 primary advantages of its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a brand that tells consumers what is usually they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed for inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) demands effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, even though they be supplementally registered. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the main 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 advantages of 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 to be 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.