In
United States trademark law
A trademark is a word, phrase, or logo that identifies the source of goods or services. Trademark law protects a business' commercial identity or brand by discouraging other businesses from adopting a name or logo that is "confusingly similar" t ...
, the Principal Register is the primary register of
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...
s maintained by the
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...
. It is governed by Subchapter I of the
Lanham Act
The Lanham (Trademark) Act (, codified at et seq. () is the primary federal statute governing trademark law in the United States.
The Lanham Act establishes a national system of trademark registration and grants owners of federally registe ...
.
Having a mark registered under the Principal Register confers certain benefits on the holder of the mark. Among them are:
* Nationwide constructive use and constructive notice, which cuts off rights of other users for similar marks
* The possibility of achieving incontestable status after five years (which cuts off certain defenses of potential
infringement defendants)
* The right to bring a federal
cause of action
A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a ...
for infringement without regard to
diversity
Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to:
Business
*Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce
*Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers
* ...
or
amount in controversy
Amount in controversy (sometimes called jurisdictional amount) is a term used in civil procedure to denote the amount at stake in a lawsuit, in particular in connection with a requirement that persons seeking to bring a lawsuit in a particular cou ...
* The right to request
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilita ...
officials to bar importation of goods bearing infringing trademarks
* Provisions for
treble damages
In United States law, treble damages is a term that indicates that a statute permits a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff. Treble damages are usually a multiple of, rather than an ...
,
attorney fees
Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an Lawyer, attorney (lawyer or law firm) for a client, in or out of court.
Fees may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Recent studies suggest ...
, and various other remedies.
Trademarks must be inherently distinctive, or have acquired sufficient secondary meaning, to be registered on the Principal Register.
See also
*
Supplemental Register
References
* Merges, Robert P., Menell, Peter S., and Lemley, Mark A. ''Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age, Third Edition.'' Aspen Publishers, 2003. pp. 591–592.
External links
Explanation of the Principal Register, from QuizLawfrom the
Legal Information Institute
The Legal Information Institute (LII) is a non-profit public service of Cornell Law School that provides no-cost access to current American and international legal research sources online. Founded in 1992 by Peter Martin and Tom Bruce, LII ...
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United States trademark law