ABSTRACT
A group name used for entertainment services is legally known as a service mark. The difference between a service mark and a trademark is that a trademark is a brand name used for a product. Reserving a name for incorporation with the Secretary of State of your particular state or filing a fictitious business name statement will not create any rights in the name that you can enforce against the commercial user of the same or a similar name. Another basic concept in trademark and service mark law is that of territoriality. The United States has also joined an international convention named the Madrid Protocol, through which a single trademark application may be filed for an international registration extending too many countries, based on a corresponding US trademark application or registration. Trademark surveillance services, available in at least 150 countries, survey trademark journals in which applications are published for opposition purposes.
