What is a trademark?
A trademark is either a word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, which identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one party from those of others.
What IS A SERVICE MARK?
A service mark is a symbol that is used in offering or selling services; the applicable law is essentially the same as for trademarks. For convenience, the term “trademark” is often used to refer to both trademarks and service marks.
Hovey Williams prepares, files, and prosecutes all types of U.S. trademark and service mark registration applications on behalf of our clients, including intent-to-use and regular use applications. The firm also handles clients’ foreign trademark registration needs.
Hovey Williams offers a full range of other trademark-related services, including:
- Searches of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Registers
- Common law searches, including Electronic Yellow Pages and state register searches
- Foreign registry searches
Because of Hovey Williams’s experience and resources in trademark searching, manual U.S. trademark searches can be performed in 24 hours or less. Preliminary database screenings can be performed immediately.
How are the designations TM, SM and ® used?
Any time you claim rights in a mark, you may use the “TM” (trademark) or “SM” (service mark) designation to alert the public to your claim, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. However, you may use the federal registration symbol “®” only after the USPTO actually registers a mark, and not while an application is pending. You may use the registration symbol with the mark only on or in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the federal trademark registration. Advice about your specific use can be obtained by contacting us.
