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R TRADEMARK SYMBOL REGISTRATION
R TRADEMARK SYMBOL FREE
If you have any questions about trademarks in general, or if you’re ready to safeguard your trademark by obtaining a US trademark registration, please feel free to contact me for a no-obligation consultation. I’m experienced US trademark attorney Morris Turek.
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Only by registering your trademark with the USPTO will you obtain the maximum protection under the law and the right to use the registered trademark symbol to notify and deter your competitors. Do You Want the Ability to Use the Registered Trademark Symbol? The owner of the registered trademark may still be able to stop the infringing party from continuing to use the mark, but monetary compensation could become much tougher to get. Even though use of the symbol is optional, a registered trademark owner who fails to use it is barred from recovering profits and damages in a trademark infringement lawsuit unless the infringer had actual notice of the trademark registration (which may be quite difficult to prove in many cases). Once the USPTO issues the Certificate of Registration, the trademark owner should use the Circle R in conjunction with its mark. If the company later applies to register XYZ for hats and backpacks and is eventually granted a registration, then it can replace the “TM” with the registered trademark symbol. Instead, the company may use the “TM” for hats and backpacks (e.g. XYZ ®), but not when the XYZ mark is being used to advertise and sell hats and backpacks. This company may use the registered trademark symbol when the XYZ mark is being used to advertise and sell t-shirts (e.g. For instance, let’s say that a company obtains a federal trademark registration for XYZ for “t-shirts.” But, let’s say the company also sells hats and backpacks under the same XYZ trademark. It’s important to note that the Circle R can only be used with a registered trademark when the mark is being used to advertise and sell the products/services recited in the Certificate of Registration. Proper Use of the Registered Trademark Symbol The CITIBANK example below illustrates a superscript placement. The COCA-COLA example below illustrates a subscript placement. It should either be placed to the lower right (subscript) or to the upper right (superscript) of the actual mark. It’s recommended that the registered trademark symbol be used in connection with all registered trademarks. Once the mark is registered by the USPTO, the registered trademark symbol can be substituted in place of the “TM” or “SM.” Proper Placement of the Registered Trademark Symbol
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Instead, the “TM” or “SM” trademark symbol may be used to alert the public to a claim of ownership in the mark. The registered trademark symbol shouldn’t be used with a particular trademark until the USPTO officially issues the Certificate of Registration. So, if you ever want to know for sure whether a particular trademark is registered, you’ll have to conduct a federal trademark search.
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It’s very possible that the registration may have been cancelled, the mark was never registered to begin with, or the mark is merely the subject of a pending trademark application that has not yet matured into a registration. It’s regularly used by owners of registered trademarks to put the world on actual notice of their federal trademark rights and to deter others who may be considering adopting an identical or confusingly similar mark.Īs a side note, just because you see the registered trademark symbol next to a trademark, don’t assume that the mark is actually federally registered.
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The registered trademark symbol signifies that a trademark or service mark has been federally registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In the world of commerce, the ® registered trademark symbol (known as the “Circle R”) conveys a very important meaning.
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