Rose, in his morning tutorial at CFP96, outlined the arguments for and against property controls in the digital age. For every advocate who feels that all information should be free, there is an aggrieved intellectual property owner who believes they have a right to own what they create, he said. Trademark rights last forever, as long as the mark or brand name is used. Companies have to support these rights, but letting a trademark lay idle for a few years may not necessarily constitute abandonment of the mark. The first to use the name gets to claim it as a trademark.
Federal registration is necessary to seek penalties under counterfeiting and customs statutes.
The basic test for trademark infringement is whether the use of the trademark or a similar name would confuse the consumer. Generic words that name a product can't be used as a trademark. A company could not register Beer brand beer. Trademark rights also trump Internet domain names. Registering a domain name does NOT give someone the right to that name as a trademark.