Most trademarks, when registered, are registered on the Principal Register.
Registration on the Principal Register provides these benefits:
- exclusive nationwide ownership of the mark (except where the mark is already being used by prior users who may not have registered the mark)
- official notice to the world that the mark is unavailable
- the right to put an ® after the mark, which lets the world know that the mark has been registered
- a legal presumption that the registrant is the owner of the mark (which means the registrant won’t have to prove ownership if a trademark disptue ends up in court).
These benefits make it easier to win an infringement lawsuit and make it more likely that damages may be collected for the infringement.