Most people are aware of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration on 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 easily use in interstate commerce, be registered there and have numerous presumptions such as validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register comes with value, especially once the alternative is associated with your the question at the beginning.
Before the advantages of 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 the source of the services or goods to which the mark pertains. Such placement does not pay for the exclusive right added with the mark in commerce in connection with its identified goods or services. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of your validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership within the mark. Finally, regardless of how an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.
While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s try to be registered on the key Register, a supplemental registration has primary advantages of its own. In fact, some entities choose to have a brand that tells consumers what it is they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed with regard to an inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that requires effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, though they be supplementally created. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the primary 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 advantages of certain international agreements.
Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark TM Registration Online in India at any. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the most benefits and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is likely a merely descriptive mark at the outset or didn’t acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as the preferred spot.