Trademark Terminology
Did you know that the general term “trademark” is actually broken into several different categories? There are service marks, certification marks, trademarks, and others - each having a different purpose. Knowing these differences in trademark terminology is helpful in general and will also give you a step up if you pursue trademark protection for your business. Below are the most salient terms within the trademark world.
Classification
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“Trademark Office”) uses a classification system to separate different marks into 45 different categories based on what type of goods and/or services are associated with the mark. The Trademark Office uses this system to sort marks that have been registered and applied-for, and to determine which marks to compare your application to during examination. Trademarks can be associated with one or more classifications.
Service Marks
A service mark is a mark that distinguishes services provided by one business from another. Most of the time, we use the word “trademark” to refer to any mark a business uses to indicate the source of whatever good is being sold. When the term “service mark” is used, we’re still talking about trademarks, but this term applies to a mark covering just services.
Word Marks
A word mark protects the written name of your brand. This mark covers the text of a mark, in any font or format, and even within a logo. When applying for trademark protection with the Trademark Office, there are often two (and sometimes more) different applications that have to be filed to fully protect your brand. One application, for a “standard character mark” (that is, the word mark), should be filed to protect the written name of your brand. The other most common type of application is a design mark.
Design Marks
A design mark protects your logo or any other stylized graphical elements of your branding. Though a word mark and a design mark may be complementary, the applications for each must be completed separately. Applying for both of these marks may be best to provide broad trademark protection.
Collective marks and certification marks
Collective marks are different from the other types of trademarks mentioned so far in that this type of mark is used by many entities without being owned by any single one of them. In contrast, the other marks are used by just one business or organization (and others who are given permission) to indicate the source of the goods or services. Certification marks don’t necessarily indicate a source, but indicate that the goods or services being sold meet a certain set of standards.
Certification and collective marks can be used for a few purposes. First, they can be used to show that a product came from a specific geographic region. For example, the collective mark “grown in Idaho” and certification mark “Certified Genuine Idaho Potatoes” can only be placed on a bag of potatoes if they were actually grown in Idaho. Certification marks can also be used to indicate that goods or services meet certain quality, material, or manufacturing standards, such as “100% Recycled Paperboard” on a paper product.
Finally, certification and collective marks can be used to show that the work on a product or service was completed by a member of a union or other organization. One example of this would be a “certified paralegal” stamp on documents prepared by a paralegal certified by the Ohio State Bar Association.
Trade Dress
“Trade dress” refers to a product’s design, product packaging, color, or other distinguishing non-functional element of appearance, and is registrable with the Trademark Office. More simply, trade dress is often said to cover the “overall look” of a product’s design, product packaging, store exterior, or store interior. This type of trademark coverage prevents competitors from capitalizing on the goodwill associated with your brand by copying the appearance of the different elements of your business.
Written by Benjamin Rothermel and Connor Jaccard.