by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - May 14, 2007 - b. What is a Common Law Trademark?
Common Law Trademarks: You not need to register your trademark in order to have trademark rights. You have common law rights once you start using your mark to identify goods and services in commerce.
It is important that you utilize your trademark correctly in order to ensure that your customers perceive a distinct and uniform mark. This is important in all internal and external communications, and should be ensured throughout your company.
It is usually very helpful to prepare a style guide to distribute among your company in order to brief everyone about the use of your newly minted mark.
Key principles of the use of your trademark:
1) Follow the mark with a term that describes the product or service
2) Distinguish the mark from other text
3) Use the mark uniformly
By following those three simple rules you can ensure that your trademark is best prepared to become a household name.
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
