Trademark and Servicemark Made Easy Your Leading Source For Legal Information. How to brand your product or service.
Some people confuse patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
Although there may be some similarities among these kinds of intellectual property protection, they are different and serve different purposes. A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark. Trademarks which are used in interstate or foreign commerce may be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office.