Question

Subject: Legal, Ethical and Social Environment

Question: What are the requirements to obtain a trademark? What federal acts regulate obtaining trademarks?

Answer 1

A trademark is generally a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.

Requirements of a trademark in terms of eligibility:

• Be in use: This requirement is in terms of constitutional law and the Lanham Act. The Lanham Act requires the trademark be used in commerce or an intent to use the trademark in commerce in good faith.
• Be distinctive: The trademark distinguishes one company's product from the other. For the same intent the trademark should be unique.The mark is inherently distinctive if it is arbitrary. distinctive or generic.A mark that are generic are never trademarked.

Requirements when applying for a trademark:

The US Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO) reviews trademark applocations.The following requirements are vital to get a trademark registered:

• The applicant's name and address as owner of the trademark
• Statement regarding the entity type(individual or corporation) and the applicant's national citizenship.
• Demonstration o f the actual use or the real intention of use of the trademark in commerce.
• Detailed description of the product being trademarked.
• Submission of diagram or specimen of the trademark.
• Offer the date of the first use of the trademark.
• Fees for the registration of the trademark as per class of goods and services.

The Trademark Act of 1946(US Trademark Law) foresees all the major trademark registration and related procedures.US Trademark Law is mainly governed by the Lanham Act. Recently the US trademark law included the adoption of Federal Trademark Dilution Act (1995) , Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act(1999), and the Trademark Dilution Revision Act(2006).