Look at some of the basic information surrounding a federal trademark. Including what a trademark protects, why you should obtain a federal trademark, a comparison of a trademark to a patent or copyright, and how our trademark attorneys can help you in the process of obtaining a federal trademark.

In short, yes you can trademark a sound. The Lanham Act, states that a trademark is “any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof, used in commerce to distinguish his or her goods, from those manufactured by others to indicate the source of the goods.” Thus, federal trademark law does not specifically prohibit a […]

While it may seem that trademark priority is simple to understand, a priority battle between two trademarks can be costly and complicated. First, U.S. trademark rights are based on use of a mark in commerce, not registration. In other words, the first person to obtain a federal registration of a trademark with the USPTO does not guarantee that owner an absolute priority or exclusivity over that mark. Under common law (law generated by judges instead of statutes) the date a trademark was first used in commerce has priority to use that mark in the geographic area the mark is being used.