Overview

Trademarks are necessary in identifying your business from other comparative items in a competitive market. They help your business create marketing and promoting techniques that help consumers distinguish your product and services effectively. Moreover, USA trademark registration give you selective rights to use the sign in your trade.

The United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) is the federal body that is responsible for registering trademarks in the US, and the Lanham Act fundamentally administers US trademark law. 

Is USA Trademark registration compulsory?

It is not mandatory to register a USA trademark. You can have many rights to a trademark even without registration. Although, you can have many other benefits from registering it. Trademark registration in USA provides you to take action against infringement. It also provides ownership evidence in legal battles over ownership. Owners of USA trademark registration have exclusive rights in connection with their marks and can transfer them to anyone. You can also use the trademark as the abbreviation R that indicates the mark has been registered and aware people against its illegal use.

United States Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO) Is Responsible For USA Trademark Registration

Every country has law related to trademark and a trademark department that regulates the process of trademark registration and infringement cases. USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office) is the US trademark registry office. The USA trademark registration process in the USA is governed by the USPTO.

The USPTO accepts applications for trademark registration in the USA for traditional marks, like design, words and combination marks, and non-traditional marks and visual marks, such as shape, configuration, colour, scent, touch, sound, etc. Registration applications for certification marks and collective marks are also accepted by it.

Benefits of USA trademark registration

You will enjoy several key advantages of Trademark registration in the USA. It gives legal protection to trademark owners in many ways. Some of the key benefits of USA Trademark registration are mentioned below:

Legal Protection: Registering Trademarks provides legal protection to your brand. It also prevents your competitors from using that particular mark for the relevant goods and services.

Recognition of Ownership: USA trademark registration makes it easier to identify that the trademarks are related to any particular brand, you can take legal action against any kind of infringement.

Public Notice: It puts others in the public domain on notice regarding the trademarks that are already registered in the USA.

Remedies of Law: USA trademark registration owners are entitled by the law to claim damages like infringement and also file suit for costs incurred in the trademark enforcement.

Registered Symbol: Symbols of trademark can only be used by owners of registered trademarks. It is a notice to the people that particular mark in the logo has been registered with the relevant government authorities.

Global Benefits: The trademark registration obtained in the USA can be further used in the other countries through the Madrid System.

Filing Basis of USA trademark registration

The American trademarks application can be filed under any of the four categories. Each category is based on the features of the brand.

Go through some of the below mentioned trademark classifications:

Already in Use: This filling basis includes trademarks that are already in use as marks of goods and services for sale. It is associated with services or goods that are moving in the marketplace. You can take USA trademark services offered by various agencies to get it done quickly. 

Future Use: It is for the people who are still planning it and want to start their business in the upcoming four to five years.

Foreign Application: If you have already applied for a trademark in a country and now wants to extend its reach to the United States. This filing base needs that this application must be submitted to the USA within six months of the foreign application for the USA trademark registration.

Foreign Registration: This classification is for a trademark that has already been registered in another country. You will need to provide an additional certificate along with certain other papers in the USA trademark application.

Documents Required for USA trademark registration

The following documents must be submitted for the US trademark registration to any USA trademark company in India:

Name, signature, address, and type of entity of the applicant.

The type of services and goods under which the brand is registered.

The filing basis.

The digital image of the trademark to be registered.

Details of the trademark.

Procedure for USA trademark registration

Find the availability of trademark: You need to check the availability of trademark to be registered in the USA. One must conduct thorough research of database of the US trademark registry, whether there are any similar or identical registered trademarks. There are many USA trademark agencies in India providing USA trademark research services. If there are identical registered trademarks, then you will need to change the trademark.

Application filing: The trademark registration application can be filed with the USPTO on the TEAS website. On the TEAS website, there will be two options for filing an application:

TEAS Plus filing 

It will have more requirements when the initial application is filed. You can pay a lesser fee per class of services or goods.

TEAS Standard filing for USA trademark registration

It has also less requirements when the initial application is filed. Although, you need to meet all the application requirements and pay a high fee per class of services and goods.

Trademark examination: After filing of the registration application on the TEAS website, the USPTO will examine whether the owner is meeting the minimum filing requirements for the USA trademark registration. If it meets all the requirements, then an application serial number is given and forwarded to the examining attorney. The examining attorney go through the application and checks whether it follows with the required rules and laws.

Publication Trademark: If there will be no objection to the USA trademark registration from the examining attorney or the trademark owner addresses the objections, then the examining attorney will approve the publication of trademark in the Official Gazette. An Official Gazette is weekly published by the USPTO. The USPTO sends the owner a publication notice mentioning the publication date of the USA trademark registration.

Trademark opposition: After the trademark publication in the ‘Official Gazette’, any third party is allowed to file an objection for registration within 30 days of date of the publication. When no objection is filed, then it will be processed for registration.

Trademark registration: When the USA trademark registration is published and no person files any objection, then the USPTO will issue a notice of allowance after eight weeks of the publication. The applicant will have six months from the issue of notice of allowance to use the mark and submit a Statement Of Use (SOU) or request a six-month extension to file an SOU. If the SOU meets the minimum filing requirements, then examining attorney will review it to decide whether it is acceptable for the USA trademark registration or not. If SOU is approved then the USPTO issues registration within two months.