From the course: Understanding Intellectual Property

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Trademark rights

Trademark rights

From the course: Understanding Intellectual Property

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Trademark rights

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- Trademark rights. So what are trademark rights? Where do they come from? How do you get them? Trademark rights arise from use. In the US, you don't get rights from registration, you get rights from using a trademark. So you open a business, you name a salon or a bookstore, or a restaurant, and you open the doors and you offer a service under a name. It has a distinctive name that distinguishes you from others, and you create trademark rights as you operate. Whether something is distinctive, is covered on a sort of spectrum, and some of these are words you may have heard. A word that's generic can never be protected, because it's generic. We want to refer to things as aluminum foil and desk, and computer, as generic phrases that aren't claimed by one party. We want to call this a switch plate cover, and we want to call an engine on a car an engine. We don't like people trademarking these words when they are generic for the thing that they're selling. A little bit up the spectrum, we…

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