Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and indicate the source of the goods. Trademarks, unlike patents, can be renewed forever as long as they are being used in commerce.

Federal trademark registration has several benefits:

• Constructive notice nationwide of the trademark owner's claim.

• Evidence of ownership of the trademark.

• Jurisdiction of federal courts may be invoked.

• Registration can be used as a basis for obtaining registration in foreign countries.

• Registration may be filed with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods.

There are times when you may desire a combination of copyright, patent, and trademark protection for your work. You should consult an attorney to determine what forms of intellectual property protection are best suited to your needs.

Here are some specific benefits of having a federally registered trademark:

• Constructive notice nationwide of the trademark owner's claim.

• Evidence of ownership of the trademark.

• Jurisdiction of federal courts may be invoked.

• Registration can be used as a basis for obtaining registration in foreign countries.

• Registration may be filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods.

Owning a federal trademark registration on the Principal Register provides several advantages, including:

• Public notice of your claim of ownership of the mark;

• A legal presumption of your ownership of the mark and your exclusive right to use the mark nationwide on or in connection with the goods/services listed in the registration;

• The ability to bring an action concerning the mark in federal court;

• The use of the U.S. registration as a basis to obtain registration in foreign countries;

• The ability to record the U.S. registration with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)Service to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods;

• The right to use the federal registration symbol ®; and

• Listing in the United States Patent and Trademark Office's online databases.

No. Only a U.S.-licensed attorney may represent you before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). He or she must be an attorney licensed to practice law in a U.S. state and be an active member in good standing of the highest court of that state. Attorneys from other countries, except Canadian trademark attorneys or agents reciprocally recognized by the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED), may NOT practice before the USPTO.

The registration is valid as long as you timely file all post registration maintenance documents. You must file a "Declaration of Use under Section 8" between the fifth and sixth year following registration. In addition, you must file a combined "Declaration of Use and Application for Renewal under Sections 8 and 9" between the ninth and tenth year after registration, and every 10 years thereafter. If these documents are not timely filed, your registration will be cancelled and cannot be revived or reinstated. For more information read about keeping your registration alive.

No. The examining attorney will review the application and may issue refusals based on the Trademark Act of 1946, 15 U.S.C. §1051 et seq., or the Trademark Rules of Practice, 37 C.F.R. Part 2. The most common reasons for refusing registration are because the mark is:

• Likely to cause confusion with a mark in a registration or prior application;

• Descriptive for the goods/services;

• A geographic term;

• A surname;

• Ornamental as applied to the goods.

You can play examples of sound marks at https://www.uspto.gov/trademark/soundmarks/trademark-sound-mark-examples

You may receive unsolicited communications from companies requesting fees for trademark-related services, such as monitoring and document filing. Although solicitations from these companies frequently display customer-specific information, including USPTO serial number or registration number and owner name, companies that offer these services are not affiliated or associated with the USPTO or any other federal agency. See Caution: misleading notices for more information.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) mandates the USPTO to provide records such as trademark applications and registrations for public inspection and copying. In order to adhere to the FOIA, trademark applications and registrations are available on the USPTO website so that the public may conveniently inspect and copy them, if desired.

It is the responsibility of applicants and registrants to carefully consider the information provided to the USPTO to ensure that any information they wish to keep out of the public record is not included with their initial filing or in any subsequent filing submitted during the entire application and post-registration process. However, to file an application, certain minimum requirements must be met, including providing the owner's name and an address to receive correspondence. Any type of existing legal entity, including an individual, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, association, or joint venture, may own a trademark. An applicant need not provide a telephone number as part of the application process, although providing a telephone number aids the USPTO in its ability to contact applicants.

Your U.S. trademark registration grants you rights only in the U.S. If you want trademark protection in other countries, you must either: • Submit an international application through the Madrid Protocol, or • Submit a trademark application in each other country or regional trademark office.

If you have problems protecting or enforcing intellectual property rights in a foreign country, consult the IP Attaché Program page.

It's hard to predict exactly how long it will take an application to mature into a registration because so many factors can affect the process. Approximately three months after you successfully submit your application, it will be assigned to a USPTO examining attorney for review. The attorney will determine if your application meets all applicable legal requirements, and if it doesn't you will be notified in an email with a link to an office action (official letter from the USPTO). See our application process timelines for more detailed timeline information based on your filing basis. The total time for an application to be processed may be anywhere from almost a year to several years, depending on the basis for filing, and the legal issues which may arise in the examination of the application.

Get information on the status of your application in the Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR) database or call the Trademark Assistance Center at (571) 272-9250 or (800) 786-9199. You should check on the status of your applications every three to four months.