What rights come with a “pending” trademark application?
Not many, so don’t get a wedgie just yet. In the US (unlike most of the rest of the world), rights arise from actual use of the mark in trade, not from registration. If you are using the mark in trade, then you have sufficient rights to protect your trademark interest. Registration can provide some additional benefits that mostly show up if you have to sue in court. In the US, a trademark application can take many months to be processed by the USPTO. Your application is pending during that entire period, but you get no additional privileges unless the USPTO actually grants you a trademark registration at the end. Many applications are denied by the USPTO. For vendors who aren’t quite ready to release a product under a new trademark, but who want to stake a claim to the term while they are preparing their marketing plans, the USPTO offers an “intent to use” (ITU) application process. It works almost the same as the regular application process, except you do not have to be actually using
