OSE Trademarks

Overview

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organizations, or other legal entity to identify for consumers that the products or services on or with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, designated for a specific market, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities.

A trademark may be designated by the following symbols:

• ™ (for an unregistered trade mark, that is, a mark used to promote or brand goods)
• ℠ (for an unregistered service mark, that is, a mark used to promote or brand services)
• ® (for a registered trademark)

A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these standard categories, such as those based on color, smell, or sound.

The owner of a trademark may initiate lawsuit|legal proceedings for trademark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that trademark. Most countries require formal registration of a trademark as a precondition for pursuing this type of action. A few countries, including the United States and Canada, also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect a trademark that is in use but not registered. Generally, common law trademarks do not offer the holder as much legal protection as registered trademarks.

Registration Process

• Search the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) of the United States Patent and Trademarks Office to determine if the good or service is already trademarked.
• Apply using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS). Registration must happen with respect to a specific class of use, and the fee is $325 per class. The application is placed in line in the order it was received to be examined by an examining attorney for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

• Following a period of anywhere from three to six months the application is reviewed by an examining attorney to make sure that it complies with all requirements in order to be entitled to registration. This review includes procedural matters such as making sure the applicant's goods or services are identified properly. It also includes more substantive matters such as making sure the applicant's mark is not merely descriptive or likely to cause confusion with a pre-existing applied-for or registered mark. If the application runs afoul of any requirement, the examining attorney will issue an office action requiring the applicant to address certain issues or refusals prior to registration of the mark.
• After the examination of the mark has concluded with no issues to be addressed or an applicant has responded adequately to an examining attorney's concerns, the application will be published for opposition. During this 30-day period third-parties who may be affected by the registration of the trademark may step forward to file an Opposition Proceeding to stop the registration of the mark. If an Opposition proceeding is filed it institutes a case before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to determine both the validity of the grounds for the opposition as well as the ability of the applicant to register the mark at issue.
• Provided that no third-party opposes the registration of the mark during the opposition period or the opposition is ultimately decided in the applicant's favor the mark will be registered in due course.

• Specimens: when submitting an application, you must provide specimens to prove the use of your goods or services in commerce.

• Goods: photographs of labels, hangtags, or packaging for your product. Advertising brochures, business cards, invoices, and other internal and marketing materials are not acceptable specimens for registering a trademark for a good. You must show the mark on the good themselves or on the packaging for the goods.
• Services: advertising and marketing materials are acceptable for services so long as the mark is show being used in the advertising or providing of the services.

Resources

• U.S. Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual
• Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) - 8th Edition
• US Patent Office Explainer Videos

OSE Process

• OSE is using LegalZoom to file its trademark applications on its behalf.

• LegalZoom
• 888-383-6483

• Marcin Jakubowski PhD is registering the mark Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) as a GOOD in Class 16: Plans for {human communities, settlements, physical developments, business parks, research facilities, villages, urban environments, and emergency housing}.

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• Marcin Jakubowski PhD is registering the mark Open Source Ecology as a SERVICE in Class 041: Training services in the field of {industrial machine fabrication and use within businesses} & Class Class 042: Design, research, and development in the field of {industrial machine fabrication}.

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