Governing Law
U.S. federal trademark laws, are collectively known as The Lanham Act, Title 15 U.S.C §§ 1051 et seq. Federal registration of trademarks is handled by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Each state also has state statutes that govern the use of trademarks within the state's boundaries.
Federal or State Trademarks
A state trademark only protects your mark in the particular geographic region that you are operating and may not even provide rights throughout the entire state.
A federal trademark protects the mark nationally. Even if a mark is only used locally, federal registration will allow expansion of the use of the mark anywhere in the U.S. If federal and state trademarks are both registered for the same mark, the owner of the state-registered trademark would only retain rights within their original geographic region - not the entire state - while the federal trademark owner would be granted broad rights to use the mark anywhere else throughout the U.S.
- Introduction
- What Trademarks Protect
- Definitions
- Governing Law
- Benefits of Trademark Registration
- If You Don't Register
- Acquiring Trademark Rights
- Use in Commerce
- Intent to Use
- Distinctiveness
- Selecting a Mark
- Logos or Words
- Trademark Search
- Trademark Symbols
- Using Trademarks Grammatically
- Electronic Filing
- The Drawing
- Specimens Of Use
- Post-Registration
- Registration Refusal
- Trademark Infringement
- Non-Infringing Use
