{"id":3086,"date":"2023-11-01T23:11:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T04:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/?p=3086"},"modified":"2024-07-13T06:02:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-13T06:02:18","slug":"tracks-to-trademarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/tracks-to-trademarks\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracks to Trademarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Better read fast because as Ricky Bobby once said, ‘If you ain’t first, you’re last.’<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you breathed the same air as me this summer, you probably know I became a huge NASCAR fan. After hearing the first car roar on Michigan Avenue (even before walking into the Chicago Street Race<\/a>), NASCAR earned my allegiance. So lucky you, you get to read about it too, haha! However, this time, with a recently acquired trademark lens.<\/em>
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\nHow did I learn about trademarks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year, my classes have intellectual property all over them. First, I am enrolled in an intellectual property (IP) survey course covering trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Additionally, my appellate legal writing class<\/a> focuses on IP and discusses patent issues like patent misuse and patent exhaustion. Next semester, I will compete with the trademark and unfair competition moot court team<\/a> as an oralist in the International Trademark Association competition.<\/p>\n

However<\/em>, the IP highlight of this year thus far is seeing learned concepts in previous unexpected experiences. After learning about trademarks, NASCAR was one of the first things that came to mind.<\/p>\n

What is a trademark?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A trademark<\/a> may be any word, name, symbol, or design that identifies a specific product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from others. Trademarking is critical to businesses as it helps to build their brand and strengthen customer relationships. Having a trademark gives owner, the right to assign the trademark so that others can use it (licenses or assignments<\/a>), and the right to exclude others from confusing uses of the mark, i.e. trademark infringement. For example, McDonald\u2019s has the right to use the word \u201cMcDonald\u2019s\u201d as its trademark in connection with fast-food restaurants and prevent another from using the same or similar mark for such services. But, McDonald\u2019s would not have the ability to exclude others from using a similar mark on other types of goods like jewelry or computers, where there is no likelihood of confusion.<\/p>\n

Businesses can register their trademarks at the United States Patent and Trademark Office<\/a> (USPTO) to enjoy registration benefits<\/a>. Registration benefits include:<\/p>\n