# Trademark v. Registered Trademark **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981 "2003-09-01T16:34:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981/1 "2003-09-01T16:34:24Z")
I think the title says it all. What’s the difference between the two? (and bonus points for explaining it in layman’s terms! :)) ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981/2 "2003-09-01T16:41:02Z")
I’m no expert (i did try to file a patent once but gave up due to the complexity of it) but from what I have seen you have two types of trademarks, pending and registered. They describe themselves. [About.com](http://About.com) gives a better explanation of trademark than the USPTO does; > [@](#): > > ## Basic Facts About Registering A Trademark > > What is a Trademark? > A TRADEMARK is either a word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, which identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. Throughout this article the terms “trademark” and “mark” are used to refer to both trademarks and service marks whether they are word marks or other types of marks. Normally, a mark for goods appears on the product or on its packaging, while a service mark appears in advertising for the services. > A trademark is different from a copyright or a patent. A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work; a patent protects an invention. For copyright information call the Library of Congress at (202) 707-3000. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981/3 "2003-09-01T16:45:11Z")
You can claim just about anything as a trademark for your product or service. However, unless it is officially registered with the US Patent and Trademark office, you can’t use the R in a circle after it. ® Yea!, it worked! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981/4 "2003-09-01T20:28:46Z")
Lately there have been some peculiar cases of people retro-actively claiming trademarks. E.g., they register in 2003, claim they have been using it since 1992 (whatever), and go have whoever happens to have that Internet domain (and they win, scary). E.g., right now UPS is going after the owner of [brown.com](http://brown.com). It seems to me that any person or company named Brown can legally have it, it goes to whoever got it first. But IANAL. So, there are trademarks that are legally acknowledged even though they weren’t registered at the time. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981/5 "2003-09-02T03:40:25Z")
Interresting. So does this mean that something that is trademarked, but not registered trademarked, doesn’t actually have ‘official’ legal standing? I’m still confused. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981/6 "2003-09-02T04:23:46Z")
The situation is similar to copyright, in which the right is presumed to exist (in certain circumstances) even if formal registration is not immediately made. Let’s say ten years ago, I opened a pirate outfitting store called “ArrrMatey’s.” It’s a small neighborhood store, supplying local pirates with quality eyepatches, peglegs, and parrots, and has quietly been doing modest business for the last decade. Now I find that some huge international conglomerate is about to open a chain of pirate superstores around the country, and they have decided to use the name ArrrMatey’s, too. In fact, their slimy lawyers have even filed a bunch of complicated papers with some outfit in Roslyn, VA, called the [United States Patent and Trademark Office](http://www.uspto.gov), claiming an exclusive right to use _my_ name. The effrontery! All I have to do is hire my own slimy lawyers and file my own papers 1) objecting to their trademark application and B) applying to register the mark, complete with the documentary evidence (advertising, porduct labels, etc.) that I have been using the mark for the last ten years. What happens then is that the wise and virtuous civil servants in Roslyn look at the two applications and say, “ **commasense** has been using the mark in commerce for ten years, and clearly holds the prior claim. His application is approved and the conglomerate’s is denied.” \* Actually, when I really filed for a trademark for my real company, I used the TM mark while the trademark was pending, and the ® after it was approved. \*In theory. In real life, the conglomerate will squash me like a bug. See [here](http://www.afn.org/~savanna/bully.html) for the story of Walter Stephen Taylor, former owner of the Taylor winery, which was acquired by the Coca Cola Company in 1977. Coke subsequently sued Taylor and his family to prevent them from “ever mentioning where they came from, who they were…or [using] the name Taylor [his _own name_, on his successor winery]. A U.S. Federal Court ordered Taylor to publicly destroy all paintings, art work, poetry, and promotional materials that mentioned Taylor by name or described his heritage.” His current winery’s name is [Bully Hill](http://www.bullyhill.com/). ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-v-registered-trademark/198981/7 "2003-09-02T06:00:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\*\*In theory. In real life, the conglomerate will squash me like a bug. See [here](http://www.afn.org/~savanna/bully.html) for the story of Walter Stephen Taylor, former owner of the Taylor winery, which was acquired by the Coca Cola Company in 1977. Coke subsequently sued Taylor and his family to prevent them from “ever mentioning where they came from, who they were…or [using] the name Taylor [his _own name_, on his successor winery]. A U.S. Federal Court ordered Taylor to publicly destroy all paintings, art work, poetry, and promotional materials that mentioned Taylor by name or described his heritage.” His current winery’s name is [Bully Hill](http://www.bullyhill.com/). \*\* That is some bullshit I must tell you. Makes me upset just reading it.