A trademark is a recognizable sign or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings.

The owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark Disobedience.A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements.

The two symbols associated with trademarks, ™ (the trademark symbol) and ® (the registered trademark symbol), represent the status of a mark and accordingly its level of protection. While ™ can be used with any common law usage of a mark, ® may only be used by the owner of a mark following registration with the relevant national authority.

In the United States, the registration process includes several steps. First, the trademark owner files an application to register the trademark. The examining attorney checks for compliance with the rules of the Trademark Manual of Examination Procedure. If the examining attorney approves the application, it will be "published for opposition." During this 30-day period third parties who may be affected by the registration of the trademark may step forward to file an Opposition Proceeding to stop the registration of the mark.

If an Opposition proceeding is filed it institutes a case before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to determine both the validity of the grounds for the opposition as well as the ability of the applicant to register the mark at issue.In short, once an application is reviewed by an examiner and found to be entitled to registration a registration certificate is issued subject to the mark being open to opposition for a period of typically 12 months from the date of registration.