What does "R" behind a name imply?

[binaryman]

ecare.com On their site there is reference to eCare with a R behind the care. REGISTERED I think it means. Similar to TM (TRADEMARK) Does it mean the same as TM? In other words is noone else allowed to have for instance eCARE.in for instance?
I ask this because I want to reg ecare.in Will I have a problem. I do notice that there are different extensions with ecare such as ecare.uk.co/ ecare.de/ ecare.nl/ ecare.pl ect All of these hare called ecare also but they are not related at all to the ecare.com product. The one is medical the other is technical yet another is computer orientated.
So can I just go ahead and reg ECARE.IN without having to expect problems?

 

[createmx]

I don't think you will have any problems. Some businesses use their full REGISTERED and TRADEMARK powers to keep a name for themselves and others just don't care. I would not be worried.

 

[binaryman]

thnx

 

[DNQuest.com]

a registered mark is a TM the is registered with the government.... either way, by registering the ecare.in, you are infringing on a registered mark (which is stronger than a TM). So you can potentially have problems on your hands.

 

[Celdric]

Registered trademarks are in Germany signed with a "r" in a circle. Those brands are similar protected like patents or copyrights.

 

[edwinfelix]

TM is Trademark, can be registered or evolved through advertising and other commercial uses.

(R) is Registered trademark.

Some countries accept both regged TM and unregged TM, while others, for instance China, accept only regged TM.

If ecare is registered or advertised in India, don't reg it.

 

[DNQuest.com]

To clarify, You cannot register for a TM, it must be earned through commerce. You may file for future use of a TM (meaning you are not using it yet, but you plan on it), but in order to be approved for future usage, you actually have to use the name in commerce before the government will approve registration.

IE- I created a new product call woogets, I file with the USPTO that I will be using it, but not sing it currently. I will then have to actually bring the prodecut to market before approval will be granted. This is when the file date of a record is more important that first usage.

Either way, you still must earn the TM first. you can't jsut go buy a TM off the shelf and sya you have a TM.

 

[edwinfelix]

Yeah, you can't do TM sqatting.

If you register a TM, it must be in use.

 

[Celdric]

Well, things might be different in different parts of the world.
In Europa for example many clever people registered tons of useless trademarks with no business behind. So they got the rights on tons of nice and problably precious .eu domain names.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Yeah, you can't do TM sqatting.

If you register a TM, it must be in use.

No, you can file for future use, but to be approved, you need to use it in commerce first, so it does not have to be used in commerce before you file.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/tmfaq.htm

-Allan :gl:

 

[edwinfelix]

While I'm not specialized in Trademarks, I did encounter related cases in the past. Registering a trademark doesn't gurantee that you will have the right to the mark. If the mark is not actively used, it's considered abandoned/dead. If the mark is too actively used that the general public think the trademark = the name of the item, it's considered genericized.

Registering a trademark just to get a EU domain is really a smart thing to do. Man I wish I have the trademarks COM, DOT, NET, ORG, so I can register com.eu, dot.eu, net.eu, org.eu

 

[RajanUrs]

by registering the ecare.in, you are infringing on a registered mark .

I dont believe registering a domain is conclusive enough to assume there is an infringement of a TM

For example I can register a domain Ecare.in for an organisation Elephant Care India and if Ecare.Com registration doesnt cover Elephant Care services then they will not have much grounds to claim for infringement. Ofcourse the same doesnt apply to all cases....especially when the name is a unique name for example Yahoo! . If I were to register a domain Yahoo.in and use it for an organisation Yahoo Elephants then the original Yahoo Inc has more stronger grounds to allege there is an infringement.

 

[DNQuest.com]

So, if I understand this correctly, you are saying "ecare" is a generic word?

Yes, be registering ecare, you are infringing on the name. It would be up to you to prove you have legitimate rights to the name "ecare" if you are challenged. Creating a reason to use a TM and having an actual reason to use a TM are concidered when deciding cases (comes under intent at registration). If you had a company called "elephant care" that was around for many years, sure you may have case. But creating a company called "elephant care" now and trying to use "ecare" as a TM may not fly because "ecare" (the real company) will argue that "ecare" is not a generic word, therefore, nobody else could use that name.

 

[~~]

In Europa for example many clever people registered tons of useless trademarks with no business behind. So they got the rights on tons of nice and problably precious .eu domain names.

No, the cheats were not clever. The .eu sunrise rules were so inadequate that any idiot who took a bit of time to read them could have figured out how to steal the best names.