Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Foreign owners may not have any trademark rights in the United States.

Despite treaty provisions that say otherwise, U.S. courts generally do not recognize foreign trademark rights in the States — no matter how well-known those marks might be abroad. That means someone in the U.S. can copy your mark, imitate your business, and open up shop under your name. If you haven’t made sales here, the imposter probably would be within its rights. Incredibly enough, the imposter could even block you from later making sales here under your mark. Because it made sales here first, its rights probably would be superior to yours.

There are two main solutions. First, if you have a foreign registration, you can leverage it into getting a U.S. registration. That would give you immediate rights in the States, even if you haven’t used the mark yet in the States. You just need a bona fide intent to use the mark here.

Second, you should start making sales to U.S. customers. That would give you automatic rights in the geographic markets in which you sell. Anyway, sales in the States are needed to maintain a U.S. registration that is based on a foreign registration.

In the end, without a U.S. presence, foreign owners should not expect that their foreign trademark rights will be given much leeway here.