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What are the Differences between the Principal Registration and Supplemental Registration for a trademark application/registration? Rights and Protection. A Principal Registration give the most rights, which may be especially important if you dealing with a good or goods that may be subject to counterfeiting. Only trademarks on the Principal Register may be recorded with U.S. Customs for protection. Only trademarks on the Principal Register can be registered with Amazon Brand Registry. A Principal Registration also carries a lot of important presumptions under the law if you ever have to defend it. A registration on the Supplemental Register may be viewed as a weak mark and may be subject to less protection under the law. But a Supplemental Registration may be better than no registration at all. Trying to stop someone from using an unregistered mark can be very difficult. A registered mark can be used against conflicting marks over and over by trademark examiners to stop the registration of new marks with a likelihood of confusion. Opposing or Cancelling or suing users with conflicting marks one by one is very expensive. A lot of presumptive rights come with a Principal Registration. How do you know if a mark is registered on the Supplemental Register? How do I search the Supplemental Register? On the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) at http://tess2.uspto.gov, a user can search on the Structured or Free Form search to find marks on the Supplemental Register. The field Register on the Structured search or [RG] on the Free Form Search identifies this field. This field identifies the mark as being either on the Principal Register (PRINCIPAL), the Principal Register with a Section 2(f) claim of acquired distinctiveness in part or in whole (PRINCIPAL- For a Free Form search or Structured search: The search PRINCIPAL[RG] retrieves only occurrences of PRINCIPAL. The search PRINCIPAL- Comparison of USPTO Principal Registration, Supplemental Registration and common law rights |
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Trademark Rights |
Principal Register |
Supplemental Register |
Common Law |
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Bring infringement suit in federal court based on the federal registration |
YES |
YES |
NO |
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The owner of a USPTO registration is entitled to rely upon the USPTO's fulfillment of its statutory duty to refuse registration to marks confusingly similar to a prior registrant's mark (USA Warriors Ice Hockey Program, Inc.,122 U.S.P.Q.2d 1790, (TTAB 2017)) |
YES |
YES |
NO |
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Mark is easy to find for search reports |
YES |
YES |
NO |
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Owner can use ® to symbolize federal registration |
YES |
YES |
NO |
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Incontestability of mark after 5 years |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Statutory presumption of validity |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Statutory presumption of ownership |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Statutory presumption of distinctiveness or inherently distinctive |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Statutory presumption of exclusive right to use the mark in commerce |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Can be recorded with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prevent importation of infringing goods |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Can be registered with Amazon Brand Registry |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Ability to bring federal criminal charges against traffickers in counterfeits |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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Use of the U.S. registration as a basis to obtain registration in foreign countries |
YES |
NO |
NO |
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See Why Not Just Patents? if you have already applied and been refused. See also Why Hire A Private Trademark Attorney? |
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TEAS Standard.com
Info TEAS Standard and TEAS Plus trademark applications