Most people know the of the numerous benefits of owning a trademark registration on Principal Register for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In fact, Online Trademark Registration in India owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks in order to be able to, upon easily use in interstate commerce, be registered there and revel in numerous presumptions while validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register also has value, especially as soon as the alternative is your own the question initially.

Before the benefits associated with being supplementally registered is discussed, it is important to understand that which a supplemental registration doesn’t provide. Marks are often relegated to the Supplemental Register because, at the request of the USPTO examining attorney, the marks are merely descriptive and therefore not a distinctive identifier of the source of the goods or services to which the mark pertains. Such placement does not pay for the exclusive right also included with the mark in commerce in a connection with its identified goods or services. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence belonging to the validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership from the mark. Finally, it may an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.

While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s wish to be registered on the principal Register, a supplemental registration has primary advantages of its own. In fact, some entities choose to possess a brand that tells consumers what everyone they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed to an inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) demands effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, although they be supplementally disclosed. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the primary Register due with out having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and profit by certain international agreements.

Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at completely. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the most benefits and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is probably a merely descriptive mark at the outset or did not acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where lots of deem as the preferred spot.