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Why does the First to File get the Protection?
- 16 July, 2018
- Nyall Engfield
Why does the First to File get the Protection?
Once an application or a registration is in the Trademark Registry, the trademark is used to bar other, subsequent applications from registration in the USPTO. This means that, once filed, your trademark gains the benefit of that earlier filing date to "overcome" other, later trademarks that attempt to register.
It is not always the case that the first filed gets the protection, however. A trademark application can be challenged if a subsequent filer started using the mark previously. However, that is a big process and would take place during opposition, not through Examination. Oftentimes, we have seen applications pass through the system to allowance, even though a previous, common-law use existed. In that case, the earlier user cannot be prevented from using the trademark, but they can be prevented from expanding their use geographically, for example.
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Archive
- April 2024
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- Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) and getting control of a Domain Name
- Combating counterfeit products - strategies and tactics
- Counterfeit products - Fake Nike and Amazon, and how they agreed to disagree
- How many active trademarks are there in the USPTO Trademark Register? And other trademark statistics
- Abandonment of your trademark - what it means and how it can be remedied
