Suppose you've come up with a catchy new logo that you want to use on the newsletter you've started distributing. It looks distinctive to you, and as far as you know, no one else uses anything like it - do you have a trademark?
The answer is - probably yes, at least once you start using it in connection with goods or services - that is, once you start putting it on copies of the newsletter that you distribute. Your design, in other words, *becomes* a trademark (if it really is distinctive and has not been used in a confusingly similar way by someone else) when - but only when - you start to *use* it as a trademark.
Just as with copyright law, there is no registration requirement; you don't have to register a trademark with the Patent and Trademark Office in order to protect it. You get certain benefits if you do; in particular, your trademark is a lot easier to protect against confusingly similar use by others if you have registered it. But you're not required to do so, and can still stop others from infringing your trademark if you have not registered.
We should emphasize that the rules set forth above are those applicable in the United States. In many other countries, especially those in Europe, you have *no* trademark rights unless and until you formally register with the relevant authorities. Use of the mark alone gets you nothing in the way of trademark rights.
authors:
| Larry Lessig | David Post | Eugene Volokh |
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