Trademarks and Your WebPage

On Trademarks, Copyrights and Your Webpage.

Generally, I advise clients first to file on the products they sell, and then on the services of selling the products. If you are just running a blog, unfortunately you can’t even get a service mark on that, because those services are provided for free. But if your blog links to a website that shows the customer your recommended products and those are sold, THEN you can obtain a service mark for that blog.

If you hand out pamphlets for free you cannot obtain a service mark or trademark registration. But if you sell them, then you can get trademark and service mark protection.

Next, you should probably file on the typeface form of your mark because then you will be able to use it in any form. If you file on stylized lettering or include a logo, if you change the style of lettering or logo, that changes the commercial impression of the mark and you will have to abandon your old registration if you will no longer be using it and then file on a new trademark registration. If your corporation is well capitalized and finanacially able to do so, you would file on all three versions of the mark 1) the typeface form; 2) the stylized letters, if any; and 3) the mark and design. You should always use the mark in the same manner on all your products and services and in advertising, packaging, labeling, etc. for the strongest protection. This creates the strongest commercial impression among your consumers.

Before you put that circle-R on anything, be sure your mark is registered for those goods and services. If you are expanding your product line, it is fraudulent to use this designation if you do not have the actual registration listing those exact goods in hand, so make sure you do this before you put that circle-R on your new product labels.

If you have a free blog, you are not entitled to service mark protection for that blog. And if you have obtained a registration for that blog, the registration maybe invalid because protection is only available if the customer pays for the product or service. There must be a link.

The mark should always be used in connection with the legal name of the trademark owner. For example, if you mark is SWEETNESS as used on a car, the name of the corporation owning the mark should be used on the product and if you have a webpage, the mark SWEETNESS should be used with the picture of the car and somewhere on the page it should have the legal name of the corporation owning the mark, as shown in the trademark registration. If the mark is owned by a separate entity, say a trademark holding company, or an individual’s name (there are some tax benefits to this, namely, intellectual property royalties are treated the same as long term capital gains and are not ordinary income), a written license must be completed and filed with the USPTO. Otherwise the mark may be invalid under the doctrine of “naked licensing.”

Talk to your trademark attorney regarding these issues.