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What a trademark does not cover

Registration protects a name in a category, not an idea in general.

A trademark protects a mark in connection with particular goods or services. It does not give you ownership of a word in every context.

Two businesses can hold the same mark in different classes without either one infringing, which is why clearance searches are done by class rather than by dictionary. The question is whether consumers would be confused, not whether the letters match.

It also does not protect the underlying idea, the business model or the way the product works. Those need patents, trade secret practice or contract terms, and confusing the four is how companies end up believing they are protected when they are not.

This note is general information, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether any of it applies to your situation depends on facts this article does not know.

See our intellectual property practice

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