Sophos Law Guides

What is a Trademark?

• A trademark identifies the source of goods or services in order to promote commerce.
• A trademark right is a potentially perpetual limited monopoly granted by both state and federal law.

BUT

• A trademark is not a copyright.
• A trademark is not a patent.

You can obtain extra rights by registering the mark federally (which is what most people mean when they say “get a trademark”). However, trademark rights arise simply from being the first to use a particular word, phrase, symbol, or color to identify your specific goods or services.

A stated policy behind granting a limited monopoly on the use of a trademark is to avoid consumer confusion because a lack of consumer confusion promotes marketplace efficiency. Because the right to use a trademark is rooted in commerce, the right is only granted when the trademark is used in public in a way where consumers associate that trademark with the supplier of the goods or services. That means if you come up with a great logo, but you don’t use it in public to identify your goods or services, then you have no trademark rights.

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