You decided to get into law school. What next?
If you think that all lawyers lead a glamorous life as shown in the TV series, SUITS, let’s face it, things are often very different.
With some wise choices, the career trajectory of a lawyer can be extremely rewarding; especially, if you aspire to get into a multi-national company or a private law firm. However, given the level of competition in the legal profession, getting into a blue-chip law firm is extremely difficult. Large private firms deal with white-collared litigation and transactional practice.
Such firms work on some of the best cases, have a crème de la crème of blue-chip clients and therefore, employ only the best. Few firms might establish themselves in a niche area of legal practice, such as Intellectual Property Law or Environmental Law to name a few.
Trademarks in the US
The basic function of a trademark is that it allows customers to easily identify the goods and services of a brand, without any confusion. Trademark protection ensures that other businesses and competitors don’t adopt a deceptively similar name or brand identity. The Lanham Act governs and regulates the Trademark law in the United States.
Of course, under the common law, businesses get automatic trademark protection for any aspect of their commercial identity or brand name on commencement of use. To fortify trademark protection, brands ensure that they register their trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In most cases, the trademark registration is undertaken by trademark attorneys.
Unregistered trademarks enjoy some level of protection under the Common Law and Lanham Act. However, they are majorly enforceable before the State Courts and have limited Federal Protection. When businesses register their mark with the USPTO, it receives a higher degree of protection and is enforceable before the Federal Courts. In the United States, a trademark attorney is a qualified legal professional, who advises on matters of trademark law and related subject areas like service marks and design matters.
Trademark Attorney in the USA
To specialize and practice trademark law, one would already have to be qualified as a lawyer. Typically, a starting point for a career in trademark practice would be with an Intellectual Property law firm or a trademark attorney.
The duties of a trademark attorney would involve:
- Advising on trademark availability and selection
- Filing of trademarks
- A transactional practice involving trademark laws
- Advising on use and application of a trademark
- Handling issues related to trademark opposition
- Advising on matters involving trademark infringement
- Representation before the courts (not for in-house attorneys)
- In-validations, revocations, and assignments
Career progression can lead to positions in multi-discipline law firms, which have watertight compartments for each area of law practice. Alternately, large multi-nationals could employee specialized trademark attorneys to handle such niche matters of the law.
A Comparison: Trademark Attorneys around the World
In several countries, trademark attorneys are recognized as independent legal professionals. For instance, in the United Kingdom, this distinction is very clear, and trademark attorneys are also lawyers along with barristers and solicitors.
Similarly, in countries like India, which derives its laws majorly from British laws, trademark agents are clearly defined as legal professionals who have a particular qualification or who have cleared a particular exam and received a certification of practice. They are licensed practitioners, who are registered as qualified trademark attorneys under the law.
On the other hand, the United States does not have a clear distinction for trademark attorneys. Most commonly, TM attorneys in the US are seen as lawyers who specialize in trademark law and related matters.
A qualified lawyer in any state can choose to specialize in trademark law and represent his/her clients before the United States Trademark Office. If a person from another profession chooses to specialize in trademark law and practice but is not a qualified attorney, he/she will not be allowed to appear before the intellectual property courts and will not enjoy client-lawyer privileges.
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