The term "collective mark" means a trademark or service mark used by the members of a cooperative, an association, or other collective group or organization. The collective mark is owned by the collective entity, even though the mark is used by the members of the collective. The collective itself neither sells goods nor provides services under the collective mark, but the collective mark may promote the goods or services of the members. Collective marks indicate commercial origin of goods or services and also that the provider belongs to a certain group. Applications for registration of collective marks are different from applications for registration of regular marks because of the difference in ownership and use of collective marks.
The sole purpose of a collective membership mark is to indicate that the user of the mark is a member of a particular organization. The owner of the membership mark exercises control over the mark, while use is by the members.
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