Intellectual Trademark Association Case Study

1. Describe the importance of international organization? When it was established? There are number of international organizations that promote the use and protection of intellectual properties. Let us consider two of them:

 International trademark association(INTA)

 World intellectual property organization(WIPO)

Intellectual trademark Association (INTA): The INTA is a non-profit international association of trademark owners and professionals who are dedicated to support trademarks and intellectual properties related to them, in order to protect consumers and to promote effective and fair commerce. INTA contains more than 6,500 organization members from nearly 190 countries. INTA undertakes legacy

Trademarks are used to identify goods or services. Though federal registration is the best method for acquiring trademark rights, trademark registration is not necessary to obtain common law trademark rights. However, federal trademark registration by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) provides many benefits especially for small business owners to acquire trademark rights.

Common Law Trademarks: A common law trademark refers to a trademark that is acquired through use of the mark. This type of trademark opposes the registration done by the federal government. A common law trademark is restricted only to that area where the mark is actually used. Common law trademarks are not as strong as marks that are registered by the government and they are governed only under the state law.

State Registration:

Trademarks can also be acquired through registration with the secretary of that particular state. State registered marks are also limited like the common law marks. To obtain a state trademark registration, completion of the required paperwork is necessary. The requirements are different for different states.

Federal

Evaluating the trademark: The evaluation starts with an analysis of each mark or name provided in the report and a comparison to determine whether they are confusingly similar with the proposed mark. In this analysis, we have to consider the similarities regarding sight, sound, meaning etc. A typical search entry will appear as are contains- Mark, Registration date, Registration number, Date of first use, Filing date, Goods, Owner etc. After obtaining the search results they must be evaluated for further use and registration. The strength and weakness of the mark are based on their descriptiveness or suggestiveness.

Selecting a trademark: Selecting a trademark may not be easy. It may be tempting to choose a word that describes a feature or characteristic of your goods or services. The more distinctive a mark is, and the more famous the mark becomes, the wider the mark’s scope of protection will be. The strongest marks typically do not have meaning in relation to the goods or services for which they are used. However, the marks that define positive qualities of the goods or services can also sometimes be strong