Most people comprehend of the numerous benefits of having a trademark registration within Principal Register belonging to the United States Patent and online trademark name Search Office (USPTO). In fact, trademark owners are urged by trademark attorneys to select distinctive marks in a position to be able to, upon used interstate commerce, be registered there and revel in numerous presumptions such as validity, ownership, and notice. However, the Supplemental Register has the benefit of value, especially once the alternative is beyond the question the first time.

Before the benefits associated with being supplementally registered is discussed, you’ll want to understand that that your supplemental registration doesn’t provide. Marks tend to be relegated to the Supplemental Register because, at the request of the USPTO examining attorney, the marks are merely descriptive and therefore not a distinctive identifier of the source of the services or goods to which the potential pertains. Such placement does not spend the money for exclusive right added with the mark in commerce in experience with its identified goods or services. Equally important, it does not serve as prima facie evidence of your validity of the registered mark or of the trademark registrant’s ownership from the mark. Finally, regardless of how an admission that the mark is not inherently distinctive.

While these drawbacks obviously warrant a mark owner’s desire to be registered on the primary Register, a supplemental registration has benefits associated with its own. In fact, some entities choose to have a brand that tells consumers what is usually they are offering (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) as opposed for inherently distinctive mark (.e.g. Domino’s) that needs effort to create consumer recognition. Such marks are not going to warrant principal placement, though they be supplementally disclosed. After five years on the Supplemental Register, the mark may qualify for the primary Register due to it having acquired distinctiveness. It is worth noting that both allow the owner to use the registered trademark symbol, sue in federal court, and advantages of certain international agreements.

Thus, any registration with the USPTO is better than having no trademark registration at everything. While ultimately the Principal Register provides the most benefits and best protection, the Supplemental Register should be considered where an entity prefers what is likely to be a merely descriptive mark at the outset or didn’t acquire the requisite distinctiveness to be registered on where many deem as the preferred spot.