When Do You Acquire Rights in a Trademark? Here’s What You Need to Know.

One of the most popular questions we receive here at The Trademark Company is when do you acquire rights in a trademark?

In the United States there are two ways that you can acquire federal trademark rights. First, you can acquire rights by using the trademark in interstate commerce. Second, you can acquire rights by filing to protect the trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

In regard to use-based acquisition, a person or entity acquires rights in any trademark they begin use of in interstate commerce for the purpose of identifying their goods or services. In short, when McDonald's first started selling hamburgers way back when they did not have to file to protect their trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They acquired rights as soon as their restaurant services began affecting interstate commerce.

On the other end of the spectrum, once you file for protection of your trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and provided that the application matures into a registration, your trademark rights will revert back to the date of the filing of your trademark application.

So we truly have a two-way acquisition system here in the U.S. for trademark rights: use and filing.

Many will then ask why then should we register our trademarks? Well, for a relatively modest fee the registration of your trademarks in large part quiets title for you in the trademark, makes it far easier to enforce the same, and provides the holder thereof with a host of additional remedies in the event the trademark is ever infringed upon.

So if you are using a trademark get it registered. It will deter others from infringing upon the same and provide you with a host of additional remedies should enforcement ever be required. If you are yet to begin use of a new trademark but know what you want to use it in connection with file an intent-to-use application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as soon as possible. You will be glad that you did.

The Trademark Company