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It seems common law trademark rights extend only to the geographical location in which the mark is used. However, when it comes to apps, there is no defined geographical region; you push it to the app store once and then anyone in America can download it. So does that mean that because the app is made available to anyone in America that, for apps, simply publishing the app and getting the common law rights will protect you just as much as registering a trademark for your app's name would.

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So does that mean that ... getting the common law rights will protect you just as much as registering a trademark for your app's name would[?]

No, because federal registration "gives a trademark owner substantial additional rights not available under common law."

Source: http://www.bitlaw.com/trademark/common.html.

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So does that mean that because the app is made available to anyone in America that, for apps, simply publishing the app and getting the common law rights will protect you just as much as registering a trademark for your app's name would.

First, in the absence of a federal trademark registration, the common law trademark does not arise until the trademark acquires "secondary meaning" in the minds of the general public that might consider using that product. If the publication does not generate enough attention that the relevant people are even aware of it, it doesn't acquire common law trademark rights.

Second, the name of the app is not necessarily a trademark, which is a brand indicating its firm of origin or approval that has secondary meaning in the minds of potential buyers. Not all app names are even eligible for trademark protection because they may be too generic or descriptive, because it is misleading, or for other reasons.

Third, a federal registered trademark registration immediately gives rise to a presumption that most of the elements of the prima facie case to establish that you have a trademark that can be enforced have been met without any need for the Plaintiff to plead or prove other evidence of the trademark's existence or geographic or market scope. In the case of a common law trademark this has to be proved up element by element. The way these presumptions play out is reflected in the linked federal court jury instruction. A federal trademark registration also provides additional remedies for infringement that are not available for a common law trademark.

Fourth, five years after registration, and after a follow up filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been made, a trademark becomes "incontestable" which means that some of the things which were merely presumed when the trademark was registered become true as a matter of law regardless of any evidence to the contrary at that point.

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