Ever wonder what some of that stuff really means when you try to read legal notices and instructions? Do real people talk that way? Is it a secret code? What do all those silly letters mean anyway? People use short words made up from the words in longer phrases as a way to remember things - a word like modem is easier to remember and say than modulator-demodulator. Likewise, ROY G BIV is a way to remember the colors of the rainbow: red- orange- yellow- green- blue-indigo- violet. Shortened terms that seem like real words are called "acronyms." Other terms are just abbreviations - like CFR and USC - that don't seem like real words, but they are made up by using the first letter of each word in the phrase. Shortened ways of saying things make for shorter, easier to read documents, at least if you know what the new-fangled terms mean. To add to the confusion, the same acronym or abbreviation can mean something very different when used by a person in a different kind of job. Our main job at the USPTO is to issue patents and register trademarks in accordance with the intellectual property laws of the United States Government. A lot of people like to call what you might run into in our business "legal MUMBO JUMBO" or "legalese." Below is a whole pot of MUMBO JUMBO GUMBO. |
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USC means United States Code and CFR means Code of Federal Regulations These citations* are shorthand for the laws and regulations that explain in precise terms what is needed in order for the Federal government to do business. Each is a citation which refers to a particular section of the law or its implementing regulations. Each law is signed by the President after being enacted by votes of the House of Representatives and Senate. Many new laws are assigned a number in the United States Code which reflects their relationship to similar laws or laws that govern similar programs. The way laws are created follow a formal process which you can learn more about from "How Our Laws are Made." The Code of Federal Regulations is written to explain in detail how the laws are to be carried out. When a law is written, it usually does not explain in great detail what procedures are to be followed, nor does it include descriptions of the special situations which can arise. This is the job of the regulations, which govern the day-to-day business of the Federal government. Regulations are actually written by the government agencies responsible for the subject matter of the laws. The United States Patent and Trademark Office writes the regulations concerning patents and trademarks which are found in Title 37 of the CFR. Below are diagrams explaining how to read these notations: |
To look up a particular law, go to hyperlink to the USC digital libraries or FedLaw |
To look up a particular regulation, go to the CFR digital libraries |
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Both house marks and product marks are special kinds of trademarks. A house mark identifies the company or division that is the maker or seller of the product, or offerer of a service. It can also be used to identify a particular grouping of products as a product line. A product mark identifies the particular product or service that is being sold. A company can have more than one house mark to identify different product lines. For example, a company named ABCDEFG could offer a product called Ruffletops. The label could say "ABCDEFG Ruffletops." ABCDEFG would be the house mark and Ruffletops would be the product mark. In another example, ABCDEFG might sell two product lines, one called NaturaRuffle and the other called TechnoRuffle. They might offer a suite of products for each:
All are made by ABCDEFG, but each grouping of related products is distinguished by its own house mark. You
can have fun identifying house and product marks next time you go shopping! |
Want to learn more? |
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