Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-352_c0n2.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

Cite as:  575 U. S. ____ (2015) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

Roman times.  See Restatement (Third) of Unfair Compe-
tition  §9,  Comment  b  (1993).  The  principle  underlying 
trademark  protection  is  that  distinctive  marks—words,
names,  symbols,  and  the  like—can  help  distinguish  a
particular artisan’s goods from those of others.  Ibid.  One 
who first uses a distinct mark in commerce thus acquires
rights to that mark.  See 2 J. McCarthy, Trademarks and 
Unfair  Competition  §16:1  (4th  ed.  2014)  (hereinafter 
McCarthy).  Those  rights  include  preventing  others  from 
using the mark.  See 1 A. LaLonde, Gilson on Trademarks 
§3.02[8] (2014) (hereinafter Gilson). 

Though  federal  law  does  not  create  trademarks,  see, 
e.g.,  Trade-Mark  Cases,  100  U. S.  82,  92  (1879),  Congress 
has  long  played  a  role  in  protecting  them.    In  1946,  Con-
gress  enacted  the  Lanham  Act,  the  current  federal  trade-
mark  scheme.    As  relevant  here,  the  Lanham  Act  creates 
at  least  two  adjudicative  mechanisms  to  help  protect
marks.  First,  a  trademark  owner  can  register  its  mark 
with the PTO.  Second, a mark owner can bring a suit for 
infringement in federal court.

Registration  is  significant.    The  Lanham  Act  confers 
“important legal rights and benefits” on trademark owners
who register their marks.  3 McCarthy §19:3, at 19–21 see
also  id.,  §19:9,  at  19–34  (listing  seven  of  the  “procedural 
and substantive legal advantages” of registration).  Regis-
tration,  for  instance,  serves  as  “constructive  notice  of  the 
registrant’s  claim  of  ownership”  of  the  mark.    15  U. S. C. 
§1072.  It  also  is  “prima  facie  evidence  of  the  validity  of 
the registered mark and of the registration of the mark, of
the  owner’s  ownership  of  the  mark,  and  of  the  owner’s 
exclusive right to use the registered mark in commerce on 
or in connection with the goods or services specified in the
certificate.”  §1057(b).  And  once  a  mark  has  been  regis-
tered for five years, it can become “incontestable.”  §§1065, 
1115(b)

To obtain the benefits of registration, a mark owner files