What is a trademark or service mark?
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. Throughout this website, the terms “trademark” and “mark” refer to both trademarks and service marks. Trademarks and service marks represent the goodwill that you have created with your customers. It is only through these assets that your customers find your products or services. In essence, your trademarks act as identifiers of the reputation and goodwill of your goods and services. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark.
A trademark is a distinctive word, phrase, logo, domain name, graphic symbol, slogan, or other device that is used to identify the source of a product and to distinguish a manufacturer’s or merchant’s products from others. Some examples are Nike for sports apparel, Gatorade for beverages, and Microsoft for software. A service mark does the same thing as a trademark, but while trademarks promote products, service marks promote services and events. Some familiar service marks are: Google (online searching services), Netflix (video rental service), and the FedEx logo (delivery services). In order to be eligible for trademark protection, a word or phrase must be “distinctive” — unique enough to help customers recognize a particular product in the marketplace — rather than generic, like “The Coffee House.” Trademarks are protected under state and federal laws. Trademarks may be registered with state trademark offices and with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Although the owner of an
Trade marks protect the consumer from confusing other brands with your brand of product. Put more simply, you want consumers seeking to purchase your brand of product to be able to easily identify it from all of the others in the marketplace; you do not want them to mistake an inferior quality copycat for your product. While trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, they will not prevent others from making or selling the same goods and services under a clearly different mark (That requires patent protection). Trademarks are used for brand names, store names, product line names, logos, packaging, colors, sounds and even shapes of products.
A trademark is a distinctive word, phrase, logo, domain name, graphic symbol, slogan, or other device that is used to identify the source of a product and to distinguish a manufacturer’s or merchant’s products from others. Some examples are Nike for sports apparel, Gatorade for beverages, and Microsoft for software. A service mark does the same thing as a trademark, but while trademarks promote products, service marks promote services and events. Some familiar service marks are: Google (online searching services), Netflix (video rental service), and the FedEx logo (delivery services). In order to be eligible for trademark protection, a word or phrase must be “distinctive” — unique enough to help customers recognize a particular product in the marketplace — rather than generic, like “The Coffee House.” To determine whether a potential business name or product name is trademarkable, and how to trademark it, see Trademark: Legal Care for Your Business & Product Name, by Attorneys Stephe
Trademark means a word, name, symbol, or device or any combination of these used by a person to identify and distinguish the goods of that person, including a unique product, from those manufactured and sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods, even if that source is unknown. “Trademark” also means, but is not limited to, the symbol, emblem, sign, insignia, or any combination thereof, of the United States Olympic Committee or the International Olympic Committee.
