Trademarks - Trademark Lawyers A trademark includes any word,
name, symbol, or device, or any combination used, or intended to
be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of
one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by
others, and to indicate the source of the goods. In short, a
trademark is a brand name. Use of the TM and SM symbols may be
governed by local, state, or foreign laws and the laws of a
pertinent jurisdiction to identify the marks that a party claims
rights to. The federal registration symbol, the R enclosed
within a circle, may be used once the mark is actually
registered in the USPTO. Even though an application is pending,
the registration symbol may not be used before the mark has
actually become registered. The federal registration symbol
should only be used on goods or services that are the subject of
the federal trademark registration. A trademark is a type of
intellectual property, and typically a name, word, phrase, logo,
symbol, design, image, or a combina