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Note:
The information which LegalArrow®
offers below is for general informational purposes only,
and is not, and should not be relied upon as legal
advice. See our entire
Disclaimer. On this website you can order professional
trademark search and registration services, as well as
copyright registration services. Patent services coming
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USPTO? What is it?
USPTO stands for United States Patent
and Trademark Office, and is part of the Department of
Commerce. As the name suggests, USPTO is responsible for
the issuance of patents and the registration of
trademarks in the United States.
Patents
If you invent something, you may be able
to obtain exclusive rights in that invention in US by
filing a patent application with USPTO. If a patent is
granted for your invention, you can stop others from
profiting from your invention. You have the exclusive
rights to sell, license, or use the invention. A patent
is issued for 14 years (design patent), or 20 years
(utility patent). USPTO receives and processes hundreds
of thousands of patent applications every year from
American and foreign inventors. The USPTO has the
responsibility to review these application and issue
patents only for true inventions, meaning that the
inventions must be novel, non-obvious, and useful.
Trademarks
The second responsibility of the USPTO
is to
register trademarks. "Through the registration of
trademarks, [USPTO] assists businesses in protecting
their investments, promoting goods and services, and
safeguarding consumers against confusion and deception
in the marketplace" (USPTO). While rights in a trademark
may be acquired by using the trademark in commerce, or
by registering the trademark at state level, owning a
federal trademark registration on the Principal Register
provides several advantages, as for example:
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constructive notice to
the public of the registrant's claim of
ownership of the trademark;
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a legal presumption of the
registrant's ownership of the trademark
and the registrant's exclusive right to
use the trademark nationwide on or in
connection with the goods and/or services listed
in the registration;
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the ability to bring a lawsuit
concerning the trademark in federal court;
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the ability to file the U.S.
registration with the U.S. Customs Service
to prevent importation of infringing foreign
goods.
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the use of the U.S registration
as a basis to obtain registration in foreign
countries.
Unlike a patent, a trademark
registration is valid indefinitely, assuming the
trademark owner continues to use the trademark in
commerce. It is important to note that USPTO maintains a
database of registered trademarks. This database can be
searched for potentially conflicting trademarks
before filing a trademark registration application with
the USPTO.
Copyrights?
No.
Copyrights are registered with the U.S. Copyright
Office, and not with the USPTO.
Compare Copyright with Trademark and Patent.
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