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A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in
trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them
from the goods of others. A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that
it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
The terms "trademark" and "mark" are commonly used to refer to both trademarks
and servicemarks. Trademarks are relatively inexpensive to obtain and most
companies will eventually have or use several different trademarks, depending
on their specific business.
Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from
using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the
same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different
mark. Trademarks which are used in interstate or foreign commerce may be
registered with the Patent and Trademark Office.
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