Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 21

Trademarks, services marks, collective membership marks, trade dress or product configuration, trade names and the like are indicia of origin of one’s products or services. These indicia are directed toward the protection of the reputation and goodwill of the manufacturer of a product or a provider of services, who uses a mark or symbol distinguishing the source of origin of its products or services from those of another manufacturer or service provider. These marks may comprise a name, logo, symbol, product shape, container shape, or other distinctive and non‐functional feature of a product or service which indicates that a certain supplier or group is the sole source for that particular brand of product or service, and the supplier or group stands behind the quality and reputation of the particular product or service. Rights in the exclusive use of the mark are protected to avoid the likelihood of consumer confusion in the marketplace as to the source of the goods or services they purchase, thereby protecting the public against fraud by the second user of a confusingly similar mark.

A trademark or service mark registration application must be submitted to the government (the USPTO in the United States) to obtain federal registration, and sets forth both the identifying mark and those goods or services with which the mark is, or is intended to be, used. A trademark never stands alone. A trademark or service mark is always considered as an adjective, modifying the goods or services to which it pertains. Thus, “Scotch tape” is proper usage, as long as the “Scotch” is followed by the identifying word “tape.” When used, a trademark or service mark should always be followed by the descriptive term of the associated goods or services.

Trademarks and service marks may also be protected in the United States and certain other common law countries without registration, if long usage and advertising of the mark has advised the public that the name or symbol has been adopted as a distinctive mark by its owner. As discussed later, each state of the United States has a trademark/service mark registration system directed to marks for goods and services that do not travel across state lines, such as a dental office, for example.