Importance of Trademark Registration: A Lawyer's Guide
Importance of Trademark Registration: A Lawyer's Guide
In addition to trademarks and service marks, other types of marks under the Trademarks Act are certification marks, collective marks and service marks and trademarks in joint common ownership. To claim the rights in a mark one may use the TM (trademark) or SM (service mark) designation of the mark to alert the public of the application. As it is not necessary to obtain registration to use this symbol (or to use this symbol if registration is obtained), a mark used under these indicia may or may not be legally enforceable. However, the registered trademark symbol (), can be used only where the mark is registered in the Patent and Trademark Office.