Answer: It isn't easy. In the United States, a trademark owner isn't required to register the mark anywhere, so there is no single central list of them all. Unlike most other nations, registration here is optional. Many owners do register their marks with the government, however, to better notify the world of their claims. Each state has its own trademark registry for goods and services sold locally.

A Benelux registration is valid for a period of ten years. The term commences on the day of application, and subsequent renewals are valid for a period of ten years.

file an intent to use application, which states that you honestly intend to use the mark in commerce. The mark must be associated with commerce, instead of simply being a mark that you want to reserve. Merely using the mark in advertising or promotion does not qualify under this category -- the use must be associated with an actual commercial purpose, or non-US applicants only) file based on an existing foreign registration. All applications require a fee.

Answer: Trademark "tarnishment," a kind of dilution, can occur if a non-owner uses the mark in connection with shoddy or unsavory products or services, illegal activity, or activity that is likely to offend the average person. For example, using a Walt Disney trademark on a website filled with pornography could be claimed to tarnish the reputation of the Disney mark in the minds of viewers who saw this material. Tarnishment is not always actionable -- it might be non-commercial or parody use.

Answer: Trademark Misuse is a largely theoretical argument about how a trademark holder can use its rights. It would be similar to the defenses brought in copyright and patent cases, which dictate that if the owner of the intellectual property rights (e.g. a patent or copyright) over-exerts its rights (e.g forces someone to buy an unrelated product to gain acess to the protected work), then the copyright or patent holder loses its right to sue for infringement.

A trademark may be a word, symbol, logo, slogan, or any combination thereof that is used to identify and distinguish one person’s goods or services from the goods or services of another, and serves as an indicator of source of the goods or services. A consumer encountering a trademark identifies products bearing the same mark to be sold by, or produced by, the same producer, even if the name of that producer is unknown to the consumer.

Answer: The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) keeps the US federal registry of trademarks. It has an online search capability, TESS, which contains more than 3 million pending, registered and dead federal trademarks. This database may not be complete. One should check the News page to see how current the information actually is. Be aware: not all trademarks are contained in the US federal register.

The term is a way to describe another good or service, using its descriptive term and not its secondary meaning. The idea behind this fair use is that a trademark holder does not have the exclusive right to use a word that is merely descriptive, since this decreases the words available to describe.

Answer: Trademark rights can last indefinitely if the trademark owner continues to use the mark to identify goods or services. According to the PTO website, "The term of a federal trademark registration is 10 years, with 10-year renewal terms. However, between the fifth and sixth year after the date of initial registration, the registrant must file an affidavit setting forth certain information to keep the registration alive. If no affidavit is filed, the registration is canceled."

Answer: To be protected by federal trademark law, the marked goods and services must be used in interstate commerce. Federal trademark law is known as the Lanham Act. It protects marks that are registered with the United States Patent & Trademark Office as well as those that are in use but never registered. Court opinions and United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) regulations also interpret trademark rights and remedies.

Answer: Each state has its own laws governing use of trademarks within its borders. To locate the trademark laws of the 50 states, use the Legal Information Institute links. Both legislation and court opinions create trademark rights and remedies.

Answer: Even if you are not using someone’s mark directly in a product or service you sell, your opponent may say you have liability under the theory of “contributory trademark infringement.” This liability may exist if you knowingly allow someone else to violate another party’s trademark rights and personally gain from such violation. It may also exist if you intentionally encourage another person to violate a trademark.

Answer: Copyright protects original expression in literary and artistic works such as plays, books, films, songs, software, performances, etc.). To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be an original creation of the author and not copied from any other source. In the U.S., copyright does not protect facts. Individual words cannot be copyrighted, and there is a gray area of protection for short phrases.

Answer: A trademark is a "mark" (word, phrase, symbol, design, mark, device, or combination thereof) used to identify the source of a product. Trademarks allow consumers to evaluate products before purchase.

ANSWER 8: If a QI receives an otherwise properly completed Form W-8 that is undated, the QI may date the form from the day it is received and measure the validity period from that date. ANSWER 9: No. If a QI receives an incomplete Form W-8 from an account holder, the QI may not complete the form on behalf of the account holder. The account holder must sign a completed form and provide it to the QI.

No. Certain countries, however, do recognize a trademark registration in India as a basis for registering the mark in those countries. The laws of each country regarding registration must be consulted. agreement for payment of royalty to a non-resident requires the prior approval of the government.

No. In the United States, merely your use of a trademark or service mark in a certain trading area (known as 'common law' use) is sufficient to give you trademark rights. Federal registration of your trademark, however, is recommended because it confers a number of automatic rights not conferred by your common law use. Top

Answer: Trademark rights are limited to the territory of the government that grants them. The owner of a French trademark, for example, cannot block someone else from using the same term in New York. However many courts around the world have held that they have authority to block Internet material because it "invades" their territory. Can a foreign court order be enforced against you? Maybe. If you have assets in that country, they could be seized.

Answer: In the US, trademark rights come from actual use of the mark to label one's services or products or they come from filing an application with the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that states an intention to use the mark in future commerce. In most foreign countries, trademarks are valid only upon registration. The person who establishes priority rights in a mark gains the exclusive right to use it to label or identify their goods or services, and to authorize others to do so.

Answer: Not in the United States. Here, you do not need to register a mark to establish rights to it, though registration provides important advantages. Registering a mark means that the registrant is presumed to be the owner of the mark for goods and services specified in the application. This makes proving your rights easier in court. However, US federal law also provides rights to unregistered (“common law”) marks if they are actually used in commerce.

Answer: Trademarks refer to goods and products, that is, physical commodities which may be natural or manufactured or produced, and which are sold or otherwise transported or distributed. Service marks refer to intangible activities which are performed by one person for the benefit of a person or persons other than himself, either for pay or otherwise. Because the legal rights are essentially the same, the term "trademark" is frequently used to refer to both types of marks.

Answer: Federal registration of a trademark has several advantages including notice to the public of the registrant's claim of ownership of the mark, a legal presumption of ownership nationwide, and the exclusive right to use the mark on or in connection with the goods or services set forth in the registration. Registration may be filed with U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods.

Answer: Common law rights are those that are recognized by courts as a matter of traditional equitable principles and fairness, even when there is no statute or other law that has been enacted by the legislative branch of government to cover the situation. It also arises from the leeway that judges have in interpretating the language of the written laws when the meaning is not clear. Common law is often known as "judge-made" law.

Answer: A meta tag on a Web page stores key words describing the Web site to a search engine for use when someone searches for one of those keywords. Some courts have held that it is trademark infringement when one company uses another's trademark to attract people who search for the competing company. There are meta tag uses that are considered fair use -- for example, when a site uses a descriptive term that is also a trademark.

Answer: Defendants in a trademark infringement or dilution claim can assert basically two types of affirmative defense: fair use or parody. Fair use occurs when a descriptive mark is used in good faith for its primary, rather than secondary (trademark), meaning, and no consumer confusion is likely to result. So, for example, a cereal manufacturer may be able to describe its cereal as consisting of "all bran," without infringing upon Kelloggs' rights in the mark "All Bran.

Answer: Trademark law is intended to protect two areas: 1) the protects the public's interest in being able to accurately ascertain the source of goods and services in the market; and 2) to protect a business's good will. Sometimes this takes the form of direct competition between two users of similar marks.

Answer: · Gandalf the Wizard Clown: This is another example involving the various rights related to Tolkien and his works. This case involves "Gandalf," the name of a wizard in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and Michael Kaplan, a children's entertainer who performs at birthday parties in the New York area. The dispute arises from Kaplan's stage name: Gandalf the Wizard Clown.

Answer: Any word, name, symbol or device which is used (or intended to be used), to identify specific goods and to distinguish those goods from items sold by others and which indicates the source of the goods is eligible for trademark protection. A fan fiction author who writes a new action novel involving Star Wars characters with "Star Wars" in the title could be liable for trademark violation since "Star Wars" is a mark owned and registered by LucasFilm Ltd.

You can register a mark in your state, nationwide, and internationally. If you register your name/mark, it will show up in search reports and hence others will be on notice of your claim. You also get a legal presumption of ownership and the exclusive right to use the mark when a mark is registered. Registration also helps in enforcing your rights in the event of an infringement.