5 ms·
Trademarks are completely unrelated to patents.
by yau8edq12i 3y ago
Trademarks are completely unrelated to patents.
- eru 3y agoOr they should be. I think in the US they are handled by the same bureaucracy called 'United States Patent and Trademark Office'?
- jacquesm 3y agoThat doesn't make them part of 'the patent system', you could overhaul the patent system without ever touching on trademark law.
- eru 3y agoLogically both systems are separate, yes. And some countries might even have separate bureaucracies for them. But the US has the same bureaucracy for both. And bureaucracies are leaky abstractions.
- jacquesm 3y agoLogically, legally and organizationally they are separate systems. There is zero indication for overlap between them to the degree that it would warrant more trust in the patent system because someone's trademark application failed.
- biot 3y agoIf some company’s alcoholic beverage doesn’t get approved, you wouldn’t say “finally some faith in the firearms system” just because the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives handles both.
- notso411 3y ago[dead]
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y agoThey are. I got a Registered trademark for one of my companies (®, as opposed to ™). It's a huge pain (and pretty much requires lawyers, but you can do it yourself, if you are a masochist), and, in retrospect, not worth it. I suspect that why most companies use ™.
- eru 3y agoWhat extra benefits do you get?
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y agoBasically, the only real benefit, and that can be significant, is that it greatly strengthens your case, if going after copiers.
- sanxiyn 3y agoWell, yes, but in the US USPTO is responsible for both trademarks and patents.
- littlestymaar 3y agoThey are different but not completely unrelated either. They are both parts of industrial property.
- eru 3y agoDid you mean intellectual property?
- littlestymaar 3y agoNope, even though industrial property is itself one of the two sides of intellectual property (the other being copyright).
- eru 3y agoThanks, I hadn't come across the term before. For other people who haven't, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_property https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_property
- vmfunction 3y agoyeah, but in US, both are in the same office: USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office)
- yau8edq12i 3y agoAnd another office handles tobacco and explosives. US administration is full of historical cruft. What's your point?