Seattle Trademark Lawyer

When you file an application to register a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, you take an oath.

You swear under penalty of perjury that the facts you have stated in your application are true.

For an intent-to-use application, that means you have a bona fide intent to use your mark in connection with all of your listed goods and services; and for a use-based application, you have actually used your mark — again, in connection with all listed goods and services.

You also swear that you own the mark; that no one else has a claim to your or a confusingly similar mark; and that the listed first-use date (for a use-based application) is accurate. Among other things.

Here’s the text of what you sign:

“The undersigned, being hereby warned that willful false statements and the like so made are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001, and that such willful false statements, and the like, may jeopardize the validity of the application or any resulting registration, declares that he/she is properly authorized to execute this application on behalf of the applicant; he/she believes the applicant to be the owner of the trademark/service mark sought to be registered, or, if the application is being filed under 15 U.S.C. Section 1051(b), he/she believes applicant to be entitled to use such mark in commerce; to the best of his/her knowledge and belief no other person, firm, corporation, or association has the right to use the mark in commerce, either in the identical form thereof or in such near resemblance thereto as to be likely, when used on or in connection with the goods/services of such other person, to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive; and that all statements made of his/her own knowledge are true; and that all statements made on information and belief are believed to be true.”

There’s a lot there. So beware.

The penalty for a false (or inaccurate) statement? Well, for practical purposes, you won’t go to jail or be fined for committing perjury, though you technically could. But you risk losing the very thing you’re trying to obtain: your trademark registration.

I’m saying all this to encourage you to make sure everything in your application is correct. If your lawyer completed your application, it’s still up to you to make sure it’s right. It’s your registration — not your lawyer’s — that may suffer the consequences.