West Monroe Trademark Attorneys & Lawyers

What is a Trademark?

A trademark is a symbol, slogan, design, word, or combination of elements that identifies a party's goods or services. The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish these goods or services from someone else's. A trademark can be almost anything in terms of design as long as it makes it easy for the consumer to identify it with a particular service or product.

Examples of popular trademarks include the NBC three-toned chime "G E C," the Nike "swoosh," the McDonald's "golden arches," and the shape of the Coca-Cola bottle. A trademark can even be a color, such as T-Mobile's vibrant pink.

How Are Trademarks Different From Trade Names or Copyrights?

A trademark identifies a commercial service or product. Trade names, also known as business names, identify the business for non-marketing purposes. A

...

What is Trademark vs. Patent?

A trademark protects a symbol, name, word, logo, or design used to represent the manufacturer of goods. A patent gives property rights to an inventor for a new product, preventing others from making an identical product. Many companies use both to protect intellectual property, although the two are not interchangeable.

What sets a trademark apart from other legal protections is that it only covers a single mark. That protection might be part of a logo, a symbol, a phrase, a word, or a design. But a trademark does not extend any protection to the products manufactured by the company that owns it. Another business or person can legally produce the same goods or offer the same services unless

...

What is Trademark Class 9?

Trademark Class 9 is one of 45 classes used by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to classify products or services. Class 9 is comprised of a broad range of trademarks for nautical, scientific, surveying, cinematographic, photographic, measuring, signaling, and weighing devices. Teaching and life-saving apparatuses and instruments also fall under Class 9, as do DVDs, CDs, cash registers, data processing equipment, and computer software.

Class 9 includes many of today's modern inventions, including electronics, software, computers, smartphones, mobile apps, and fire extinguishers.

In fact, the following goods are just some of the things considered to be part of Class 9. This is only a sampling of a very large grouping:

...

What Is a Descriptive Trademark?

A descriptive trademark identifies one or more characteristics of a product or service covered by the mark and only serves to describe the product. 

Some descriptive mark examples are:

• 104 KEY: it describes how many keys are on a keyboard; therefore this could be considered descriptive.

• Cold and creamy: a potential mark for ice cream, but since it describes one of the characteristics of the product, it isn't likely to qualify as trademark.

Descriptive trademarks like these examples, which only include words based on aspects, highlights, end results, or product uses won't qualify for a trademark. This includes terms like "best" and "high quality." Still not sure? Answer this question: "Does this word describe t

...

What Is Trademark Licensing?

Trademark licensing is the process by which a registered trademark owner, called a licensor or proprietor, allows another party, called a licensee, to make and distribute specific products or services under the licensor's trademark agreement. Trademark licensing is a type of merchandise agreement.

The licensor receives a certain amount of money or royalties, a percentage of all sales, in exchange for sharing the trademark. This compensation is also called consideration. Fashion and consumer products concerned with sports and entertainment are often sold under a trademark licensing agreement.

The licensee usually creates a trademark licensing agreement, but a licensor can also create this document. Both parties usually agree upon the terms before creating a trademark licensing agreement.

To be eligible for legal enforcement, a trademark license

...