A trade mark is NOT _________.

A trademark is a word or words, name, symbol, label, device, or picture applied to a manufacturer’s or merchant’s product to identify it and distinguish it from similar products sold by others. Its most common form is the brand name. In a trademark the protection is in the symbol that distinguishes the product, not in the product itself. A trademark in the United States comes into being as soon as and for as long as it is used. Trademarks that are not properly protected, however, may become available to all manufacturers. Registering trademarks helps protect them. In the United States, trademark registration provisions were enacted by Congress in 1870 and modified in 1881 and 1905. Federal registration under the Lanham Trademark Act of 1946 is made by sending application, label confirming trademark use, and a fee to the U. S Patent and Trademark Office.