What type of protection does an Oklahoma trademark provide?

I have said that getting an Oklahoma trademark from the Oklahoma Secretary of State is a no-brainer.

So what is an Oklahoma trademark?
And, what do you get when you secure an Oklahoma trademark from the Oklahoma Secretary of State?  Read on to find out.
  • The Oklahoma Secretary of State will provide you with the certificate of trademark if it searches its database and finds nothing that conflicts with your mark. However, that is the extent of the search done by the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s office.
  • An Oklahoma trademark provides you with the right to use your mark in Oklahoma and to prevent other people from infringing on your mark in the state of Oklahoma.
  • An Oklahoma trademark is not an indication that you own the mark outside of Oklahoma.
  • An Oklahoma trademark is a very thin level of protection even within the state of Oklahoma. This is because of the limited search done by the Oklahoma Secretary of State. It is possible and it’s happened on more than a few occasions that the Oklahoma Secretary of State issues a trademark certificate to a person and someone else comes along later and is able to prove that they are actually the owner of the mark.
  • The cost of securing a trademark from the Oklahoma Secretary of State is the $50 registration fee and whatever you pay someone else to file it for you.

Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."