Registration, however, has many advantages, including exclusive national rights to use the mark in connection with specified goods or services, incontestability after five years, the right to sue in federal court, and the ability to bar importation into the United States of goods bearing infringing trademarks. Registration of a trademark is obtained by submitting an application that is examined to ensure that the trademark meets the criteria for registration. Unlike copyrights, trademark rights are national, not international. Therefore, registration in one country does not confer rights in other countries. Often, however, a trademark may be entitled to registration in another country based on a previous United States registration.
Patents There are three different types of patents.
Design patents protect novel, non-functional design elements. Plant patents protect asexually reproducible plants. Utility patents, the most common type of patent, are often referred to simply as patents. Utility patents provide protection for useful inventions, which may be processes, machines, articles of manufacture, or compositions of matter. A patent permits a patentee to exclude others from making, selling, or using the patented invention and from importing the patented invention or an article made by a patented process into the United States.