What Does The  Symbol Stand For?

            The (R) symbol means that a company has registered its trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. When a trademark is registered it tells everyone in the country that the trademark is taken. A product has to be put into use in a way that crosses state lines or international boundaries.  The product or service has to be the kind of business that the Congress regulates. 

            The use of a trademark to sell a product or service means that its owned automatically. Just because you don't see a (TM), (SM), or an (R) doesn't mean that you can use it without permission.

            There is an application fee of about $245.00.  All trademarks that are filed, are published in the Official Gazette to wait for somebody to challenge the mark. If nobody objects, the trademark is published in a list called the Principal Register. A trademark search has to be done before a trademark is registered to make sure it hasn't been used by someone else.

            Anybody can use the computers at special libraries around the country to do a trademark search. These libraries are called Patent Depository and Trademark Libraries. 

            The registration with the federal government protects it legally throughout the United States.  The trademark must be registered in other countries too.  Many countries have signed agreements to respect trademarks registered in other countries.
 

  They help you know which new products are made by the same company as a product you already know. 
 

  They catch your eye and remind you of the advertisement that you've seen.

A distinctive or special word that is creative or out of the ordinary. For example: Kodak. 

A word used in an unusual way such as "Amazon.com" and "Time Magazine." 

  A phrase that gives an imaginative image. For Example "Good To The Last Drop, Maxwell House Coffee" and " Nooks and Crannies of Thomas' English Muffins." 
 

  A symbol that promotes a product or service in the market place. This can be shapes, letters, numbers, sounds, smells, or colors. 

  Titles, character names, or something unusual from a movie, television or radio broadcast can be a trademark if it promotes a product.

            Usually people's names, geographic terms or descriptive terms that describe a product or thing are not trademarked, but, if a name becomes used by a company for a long time and the public knows it as a product, it can be a trademark such as Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Steve Madden Shoe Store, and Macy's Department Store. 
 

            Yes, they can. Unlike copyrights that are for a certain amount of time, trademarks are protected for as long as the product or service is in the public. However if a product is the first of its kind and the public uses the word over a long time to mean the type of thing, instead of a brand name, it can loose it's trademark protection. Some examples of this are Aspirin, Escalator, Laundromat, and Kleenex. 

        A service mark is a symbol that promotes a service or business instead of a product. For example the McDonald's Golden Arches "M", or the NBC peacock or the CBS eye symbol.  The symbol to the right is from Humongous Entertainment Website.

            A trade name is a name for a business that is not used to sell a product or a service. These can have trademark protection if it is also used to sell something. For example, the trade name "Apple" for Apple Computer Corp. Trade names are the subject of unfair competition lawsuits.

            A product may be identified by a certain shape or packaging. For example, everybody knows the shape of a Coca Cola bottle. A business might be identified by a certain decorating look. 

            A cyber pirate is someone who makes a website that looks like the official site of a company or famous business by using their trademarks and images but is really counterfeit. Cyber Pirates sometimes only steal trademarks and put them on their website without paying for this right with a licensing agreement. 

            A squatter is someone who lives in property that they don't own and the owner never gave permission for them to live there. A cyber squatter is someone who registers a domain name or URL address using the trademark of a famous company and keeps the URL  address hoping the famous company will pay them to get their name back to use on their own website.

            Unfair competition is something that a company sues another company for if  one business  uses their name, service mark, or trade dress in a way that confuses the public into purchasing the wrong product or service.