A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. The trademark owner can be an a business or an individual. A trademark is generally located on a product package or label.

On the other hand, servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms "trademark" and "mark" are commonly used to refer to both trademarks and servicemarks.

Two symbols are associated with trademarks in the United States: ™ (the trademark symbol) and ® (the registered trademark symbol). While a trademark owner can use the ™ symbol on their product to indicate trademark rights under common law usage of a mark, the ® may only be used once the mark is registered at the federal level in the United States.