Introduction | Basic Trademark Information | Legal Resources

Introduction

Trademarks
Trademarks play a vital role in international commerce.

They enable those who create and/or provide goods and services to reap the benefits of their ingenuity and industry.

They also enable consumers to identify the things they want to own and use and offer a degree of protection against consumer fraud.

The more you know about trademarks, the better able you are to protect your own trademark rights and benefit from others' trademark use.

Trademarks and the Web
The Web is a particularly powerful tool for trademark owners and consumers worldwide. The Web enables trademark owners to build and strengthen their trademark rights and public recognition thereof. It can also assist them in determining whether a particular trademark is available for adoption and use.

The Web enables consumers to learn about the products and services offered in connection with particular trademarks. By discovering goods and services that interest you and the commercial shorthand (i.e., trademarks) by which we identify these, you can make more educated choices among competing products.

SGI
In the interest of advancing public awareness about trademarks and the ways in which consumers and trademark owners can benefit from the Web, SGI offers the following information.

Basic Trademark Information

Here are other Web sites offering basic trademark information:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office's Web site offers general information about trademarks, including its brochure Basic Facts about Registering a Trademark.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office offers similar information about Canadian trademark law.

The International Trademark Association has a Web site full of useful information about trademarks.

The Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School offers extensive summaries of various U.S. legal areas, including an informative one about trademark law.

Thomson Compumark, a trademark and copyright research firm, offers various informational resources.

Except as noted, SGI is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, any of these entities or sources and disclaims any responsibility for the information they provide.

Legal Resources

Here are Web sites providing more detailed information about trademark law:

Canada

The Canadian Trademarks Act

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office

United Kingdom

The Patent Office Trademark Site

Except as noted, SGI is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, any of these entities or sources and disclaims any responsibility for the information they provide.