Little Known Facts About Dallas trademark lawyer.

Are you looking for more information on trademark law? You have come to the right place if so. A trademark is a word, symbol, or phrase that manufacturer's use to sell products and distinguish themselves from other manufacturers. The Nike swoosh, for example, is a trademark symbol. The phrase 'I'm lovin it' is an example of a trademark phrase. Trademarks, however, do not have to be phrases, symbols, or words. They can also be a type of packaging or a unique shape. Trademarks are used by companies to help customers easily identify their products. Trademark laws are laws, governed by both federal and state law, that help to protect the trademark of a product or company. When covered by trademark law, anyone who uses the trademark will face severe legal penalties.

What types of trademarks qualify for legal protection? In order for a trademark to be covered by law the trademark must be distinctive, meaning it must make the product easy to identify. All qualified trademarks must be fanciful or arbitrary, suggestive, or descriptive. Let's take a closer look at what each of these means. If it has no relationship to the product in which it is selling, a trademark is arbitrary or fanciful. The Nike swoosh, for example, has no logical connection to shoes, making it an arbitrary and qualified trademark. A suggestive trademark is one that is suggestive of a characteristic of the product. Powerade, for example, is a type of drink that gives you energy. The name Powerade is suggestive of the products use. A descriptive mark, on the other hand, directly describes the product. All Bran cereal, for example, suggests that it is an all bran cereal.

Your product qualifies for protection, but how do you go about obtaining it? There are 2 ways that an individual or company can acquire a trademark. You can obtain a trademark by either being the first to use the trademark, or by being the first to register it. Trademarks are registered at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This registration gives you the protection that you need to prevent others from using your trademark. Anyone who does use it can be sued in a federal court.

, if someone has used your trademark you can take them to court.. In order to win your case, one must be able to prove that the sale of the product caused confusion to customers. Within court, the judge will look at several factors. These include: the strength of the trademark, the proximity of the products, the similarity between the products, evidence of customer confusion, and the defendant's intent.

If you are selling a product and would like to trademark it, be sure to register your trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Doing so will ensure that you are the only one with rights to the mark and that anyone who uses your trademark will be subject to legal penalties.

Trademark law gives companies the exclusive right to use a given name or design, called a "mark," for the purpose of identifying the source the of that company's services or goods. Trademark law is an incentive-based system. The company can create a brand that is recognizable by the consuming public because it gives companies the exclusive right to use a mark in connection with certain goods or services. That trademark would be associated with and incorporated into every advertisement the company runs for its services or goods. Repetition of those advertisements containing the trademark causes consumers to associate the mark with the goods and, with enough repetition, consumers buy the goods.

A brief, but related, digression. We all know that if you see a product advertised frequently enough, the product will sell. You might even be one of the people who buys the product. The thinking process by which you reached the decision to buy the product is not an intellectual, logical process. It's a function of the way the human mind works. Continually hearing Dallas trademark lawyer a repeated message makes the message more familiar, more real, and, eventually, more true. As the adage says, "even the boldest lie becomes the truth if you scream it loud enough and long enough." I call this the "Lie = Truth" Adage. Sadly, I frequently encounter the "Lie = Truth" Adage in litigation. I also know of some politicians and terrorist masterminds who are experts at exploiting this fact of human nature.

Back to trademarks. The advertising departments at most companies know the "Lie = Truth" Adage can be very successful in advertising. The cynic would pump his fist in the air yell "Down with the corporations, and power to the people! All the corporations care about is taking our money at all costs!" While we can point to some recent examples that might make it challenging to argue against this viewpoint, as to the overwhelming, vast majority of companies, that view simply can not be supported.

Trademark law creates very strong incentives for companies to make the highest quality product possible and to advertise their merits and attributes accurately. Aside from the fact that companies invest anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars into their trademark(s), all it takes is one bad product line to tarnish a companies image in the mind of the consumers who buy their products. Both of these factors hit companies where it hurts them most: in the pocketbook. While companies clearly have to perform a balancing act of creating a high quality product, keeping costs down, and pulling in as many purchasers as possible, they have very strong incentives to create a quality product that they will associate with their trademark.

To be eligible for any level of trademark protection, a mark must be "distinctive" and not merely "descriptive" of the goods or services. Whether a mark is distinctive and "how" distinctive or strong the mark is can be determined by a sliding scale. Marks can be (1) fanciful; (2) arbitrary; (3) suggestive; (4) descriptive; or (5) generic. Whether a particular mark is protected by trademark law depends on the strength category into which it falls.

A fanciful mark is one that is invented for the sole purpose of being a trademark. EXXON is a fanciful mark. It is a word that does not exist in the English language and was created only for the purpose of identifying the oil and gas company.

An arbitrary mark is typically an existing word that is arbitrarily applied to a product or service that has nothing to do with the word. The mark APPLE as applied to sales of computers.

A suggestive mark is a mark that suggests a quality or characteristic of the services or goods. Suggestive marks require some level of imagination to bridge the connection between the product and the mark. The mark PENGUIN as applied to refrigerators.

A descriptive mark is a word that merely describes a quality or characteristic of a product. Descriptive marks are not entitled to trademark protection unless they have obtained "secondary meaning" under the trademark law. An example of a descriptive mark would be LIGHT to identify a lightweight notebook computer.

A generic mark simply identifies by name a particular product. Generic marks are never entitled to trademark protection. An example of a descriptive mark would be MODEM in connection with modem sales. If trademark protection were allowed in this instance, the company could essentially remove the word "modem" from the English language.

When covered by trademark law, anyone who uses the trademark will face severe legal penalties.

In order for a trademark to be covered by law the trademark must be distinctive, meaning it must make the product easy to identify. Trademarks are registered at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If you are selling a product and would like to trademark it, be sure to register your trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Descriptive marks are not entitled to trademark protection unless they have obtained "secondary meaning" under the trademark law.