Benefits of Trademark Registration
Sure, your band name is something you came up with late one night in the basement. And that's the name by which your growing legion of fans and admirers knows you, and its potential - and thus its value to you - is huge! You don't want anyone else to be able to use it, and by the same token, you wouldn't want to be investing time and money behind that name if it turned out the name were owned by someone else. So be sure your name is your own by registering it as a federal trademark.
Advantages of federal trademark registration include:
- Constructive notice nationwide of the trademark owner's claim.
- Legal presumption of ownership of the trademark.
- Anyone using a "confusingly similar" mark can be legally stopped.
- Registration provides powerful ammunition against potential infringement.
- Exclusive use of the trademark nationwide in connection with the goods or services indicated.
- The right to sue in of federal courts for trademark matters.
- Can receive money damages for infringement up to triple of actual losses.
- Registration can be used as a basis for obtaining registration in foreign countries.
- Registration may be filed with U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods.
- Allows use of the ® symbol or the words "Registered Trademark."
- Can increase the value of your trademark as a business asset.
- After five years, the trademark owner's rights become incontestable.
- Can prohibit the registration or use of an Internet domain name that infringes the trademark.
Once granted, trademark registration is valid for ten years and may be renewed for additional ten year terms as long as you continue to use the mark in commerce in connection with the goods or services specified.
In contrast, a registered state trademark only protects your mark in that particular state. A federal trademark protects the mark nationally. Even if a mark is only used locally, federal registration will allow expansion of the use of the mark anywhere in the U.S.
