Right, but how does it work when there are applications at the patent office for existing trademarks to be registered? You can trademark anything but need a special registration approval for the trademark to be registered. Same for all the thing that say patent pending, right? Maybe that was the hierarchy I was mis-remembering.
It’s not a hierarchy. They protect different things.
For trademark they try to determine if a normal person could confuse it for an existing trademark. So a drink called cocaKola with white lettering on a red background isn’t going to get protection. You could easily think you are buying a Coke but you are not.
You register to help get your origin date on record. Being first is super important in a trademark dispute. It also helps to show that a infringer should have known about your trademark because it was registered.
Patent means you can’t take my idea and use it without my permission no matter what you call it. Patent pending means we asked for a patent but don’t have it yet. If you copy our idea and we get the patent we can come after you.
Right, but how does it work when there are applications at the patent office for existing trademarks to be registered? You can trademark anything but need a special registration approval for the trademark to be registered. Same for all the thing that say patent pending, right? Maybe that was the hierarchy I was mis-remembering.
It’s not a hierarchy. They protect different things.
For trademark they try to determine if a normal person could confuse it for an existing trademark. So a drink called cocaKola with white lettering on a red background isn’t going to get protection. You could easily think you are buying a Coke but you are not.
You register to help get your origin date on record. Being first is super important in a trademark dispute. It also helps to show that a infringer should have known about your trademark because it was registered.
Patent means you can’t take my idea and use it without my permission no matter what you call it. Patent pending means we asked for a patent but don’t have it yet. If you copy our idea and we get the patent we can come after you.