Ownership of such marks properly lies in the parent body, group or collective organization because of its exercise of legitimate control over use of the mark by the members of the group. Provision for registration of collective marks is made in 4 of the Trademark Act of 1946. The definition of a collective membership mark is included in the definition of collective marks in 45 of the statute. For examination of collective membership marks, see TMEP 1304. Certification Marks Provision for registration of certification marks is made in 4 of the Trademark Act of 1946.
Certification marks are, by their basic nature, unlike any other types of marks.
Although certification marks are used or intended to be used in connection with goods or services and might therefore seem to be like trademarks and service marks, they differ from trademarks and service marks because they do not indicate origin of the goods or services. Moreover, they are neither used by the owner of the mark nor used on the owner's goods or with the owner's services. Although certification marks are used or intended to be used by more than one person and might therefore seem to be like collective marks, they are very different from collective marks in nature. Because of the superficial similarities, care must be exercised in examination to identify certification mark situations even where the mark is not identified as a certification mark in the application. For examination of certification marks, see TMEP 1306.