Historically, nationwide priority is listed by trademark attorneys as one of the most important reasons to register a trademark.
However, there is an open question raised by the operation of a business over the Internet and whether or not trademarks used on a site are automatically given nationwide priority without a federal registration.
Arguably, an Internet site containing a company’s trademark is an advertisement available in any state in the country.
Trademarks used in advertising are capable of establishing priority under the common law, provided the advertisement creates an association in the mind of the consuming public between the mark and the goods or services.
Therefore, one might think that nationwide priority is automatically established by maintaining a web site. However, until the law of the Internet is more evolved, there is no certainty that this will be the case.
For example, there is reason to believe this will not be the case for companies that are geared toward a local audience only. In this instance, it should perhaps be irrelevant that the site can be accessed nationwide, as long as the market niche remains local.
In fact, the courts may ultimately require actual sales in a state or region before granting a business priority in that area. Given these uncertainties, nationwide priority probably remains one of the greatest advantages to registration in this author’s opinion.
