Trademark or Service Mark – What’s in a Filing?

There actually is a difference between a trademark and a service mark. Knowing the differences will help protect your intellectual property.

While you might be wondering what the difference is between a service mark and a trademark, after all they sound the same and the concepts are pretty similar, there is a difference; one that you should be aware of when you go to file your mark and talk to a Sacramento business lawyer. The major reason you will want to file it properly boils down to being able to protect your intellectual property.

So what are the differences? Let’s start with trademark, as most people are somewhat familiar with what the term means. A trademark is a word, device, symbol or even a combination of those things that you use in business to mark/identify/distinguish your goods from everyone else’s goods. It may also be used to identify the source of the merchandise. That’s fairly straightforward.

On the other hand, a service mark is a device, word or symbol, or a combination of those things, used by businesses to mark/identify/distinguish your services from the services offered by other. It may also be used to identify the source of those services. Ok, you may be getting whiplash trying to compare the two definitions and thinking that they sound the same. That is because they “are’’ pretty much the same thing, but for the fact that a service mark relates to “services” and a trademark refers to “goods.”

Just to further confuse the issue, the term trademark is also used to refer to trademarks and service marks, and that the term ‘brand name’ is used as a synonym for either term. It’s rather ironic that the reason for trademarks and service marks is to prevent confusion about who created or provided the goods or services, and yet people confuse them. Primarily, consumers are more interested in the products or services and identify them by name and brand, etc.

The history of trademarks and service marks came to be primarily because people perceived that there had to be some method of distinguishing where the goods and services came from, and who made or distributed them. Over time, the various goods and services came to be associated with specific qualities for the general buying public. For instance, we all know and associate Coke with those classic curvy glass bottles that set them apart from other bottlers in the industry.

The point here is that each company (goods or services) needs to be distinguished from others that are similar. This is where trademarks and service marks came into being. The bottom line is that the marks themselves now have taken on a form of intrinsic value and are known to boost the sales of various goods and services.

The actual process of creating a service mark or a trademark is the same. This means a company or individual has to offer a service or a product using the name that distinguishes it from other similar goods and services. In order to do that, the name has to meet certain requirements to be able to qualify.

Having said that however, if the business is able to show that the name they are using is associated with the product/service and the company in the public’s perception, it may be able to claim that name as a trade or service mark. This will usually stop other businesses from using it. Mind you, there are various levels of trademark protection which relate to how unique the name happens to be. When in doubt, discuss your intellectual property and protecting it with a skilled Sacramento business lawyer.

Deborah Barron is a Sacramento business lawyer, Sacramento employment lawyer, and Sacramento personal injury lawyer in California. To learn more, visit www.lawbarron.com.

Elder Abuse Takes on a New Ugly Face

Elder abuse has just taken a significant notch up in terms of despicable behavior. Imagine an ill senior returning home to nothing, not even a chair on which to sit.

Just when you’d hope that a sense of community was finally beginning to prevail in these tough, ‘we should pull together’ economic times, something happens that makes one regret they’re a member of the human race. “Witness a case we heard about in Savannah, Georgia, of a 76-year-old senior who came home from the hospital after six weeks and found literally nothing in her house; not even a fridge,” outlined Deborah Barron, of the Barron Law Office in Sacramento, California.

In addition to no fridge, there was no furniture and all of her belongings had vanished. Every stick of furniture and stitch of clothing and other goods were gone. Only the bare walls remained along with one lonely mattress on the floor in the bedroom. If the woman could have called the police, she would have. However, the culprits also took her phone. This is a totally ugly twist on elder abuse that no one should ever have to be subjected to at any time.

“Unfortunately, the victim is fairly certain that a family member did this to her, and she is in shock that they would be so vicious and thoughtless. Sadly, elder abuse is perpetrated quite often by family members and not always strangers,” added Barron. This makes it even harder to bear when the victim realizes that their own family thinks so little of their health and welfare that they would leave an elderly person in dire straits with no way to contact anyone for help.

Thanks to the kindness of a neighbor, the police were called and came to get to the bottom of this horrendous affair. The senior’s sister from another county showed up in response to a phone call from the police, and took her sister to her own home, in total shock at what they found when they arrived. The neighbors up and down the street rallied around when they heard the full extent of the problem, none too impressed with the fact that someone in the senior’s family would leave her in such a desperate situation after just being released from hospital.

“The local police labeled this affair as one of the worst cases of elder abuse they had ever seen. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to senior abuse. This just happens to be a new twist in the saga of people harming the elderly for largely unfathomable reasons; people who are family, which makes this even more reprehensible,” Barron commented. This isn’t about missing furniture; it is also about identity theft. This particular woman no longer has an ID, and her ATM card is also gone.
Since the lady is unable to prove who she is, she is also unable to have all her prescriptions filled and has no money because she no longer has access to it. “To say this situation is a disaster would be an understatement. This type of thing that’s happening to elderly individuals is appalling; and yet it is only just a small sampling of the other shocking things done to our seniors,” added Barron.

If elder abuse is suspected or discovered within a family, has happened to a neighbor or friend, make that phone call to the police and to a skilled Sacramento personal injury lawyer. This kind of behavior is not acceptable and never will be. Preying on the vulnerable elderly is one of the worst crimes on record. Stop it in its tracks.

Deborah Barron is a Sacramento business lawyer, Sacramento employment lawyer, and Sacramento winery lawyer in California. To learn more, visit Lawbarron.com.