Trademark Facts

Our Rights under U.S. and State
Trademark law

Clearly we own all rights to our Church name. Anyone else who infringes our rights intentionally can be held liable for up to treble damages in court. In such a case we are able to take legal action for trademark infringement and dilution of our mark as well as claims of identity theft, fraud, theft by deception and any related claims the attorneys see fit to include.

Excerpt from Trademark law

A Service Mark is word(s), symbol or phrase used to identify the owner of a mark. In this case our mark, according to the USPTO shows the logo with text and below states: (Words Only): THE HOLY EASTERN ORTHODOX CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA which is clearly shown on the Registration of the Service Mark in 2000. We understand that the words in the order shown on the logo are distinctive to us and our mark and that is our name!

Copy of original registration - https://aocc-1927.tripod.com/tarr.htm

Thus use of our mark in whole or in part is illegal when another "church" takes our name and/or logo and claims to be us. This is the question I asked of a lawyer basically. If you read the law this is what it seems to say. Like Kodak camera and Kodak gas and oil - no problem, but when Kodak produced instamatic cameras they were sued by polaroid years ago and if someone took the name Kodak for their own camera or film company there would be a problem based on the same catagory (cameras and film).

Since our mark has been in use (common law) since 1927 for our church and since 1928 for the corporation and in 2000 was Registered with the USPTO we have had the name more than 5 years under both common law and as a Registered Mark. Therefore by law we have exclusive right to the use of the mark and this is incontestable according to law. 15 USC § 1065

The owner of a registered trademark may commence legal proceedings for trademark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that trademark. However, registration is NOT required. The owner of a common law trademark may also file suit, but an unregistered mark may be protectable only within the geographical area within which it has been used or in geographical areas into which it may be reasonably expected to expand. Since we have been Registered with the U.S.P.T.O. we hold all rights in the United States.

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Legal Notice: This website and photographs are Registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Our name and logo are Registered or claimed Service Marks of this Church (Corporation). Our name and logo are also Registered with the State's of Arizona and Tennessee. Any unauthorized use of our name and logo (Our mark) or copyrighted materials will be considered infringement and theft of our legal property. Anyone claiming to be us or part of this Church and not shall be considered guilty of fraud.

The law does not require a continous registration of a service or trademark. Use and ownership for 5 years gives you full ownership. We have had the name since 1927 and claim commonlaw ownership since 1932. We claim Ownership under the law since we registered the name with the USPTO in 2000 and our service mark (name and logo) were legally ours as of January 2005.
15 USC 1065