Don’t miss updates on Procurement & Supply Chain, Subscribe here! So many of you have contacted us with confusion about the Senior Professional in Supply Management (SPSM) Certification and certification that is allegedly coming out from another organization in a year or two with a confusingly similar name and it has been difficult to personally respond to all of you. So please let me use this forum to update you with the latest.
The SPSM Certification was first “used in commerce” (a legal term) on July 1, 2004. Use in commerce is a determining factor in protecting intellectual property from being copied or modified so as to confuse the buying public. “You use it first, you own it” is a simplified explanation of the law. (Xanax)
Registration of trademarks – which is a loooooooong process – can help a court case in the event of a trademark dispute. Because trademark cases are expensive, it is really important to have as many “ducks in a row” as possible before initiating one.
Last year, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) granted to Next Level Purchasing, Inc. the official registration of the trademark “Senior Professional in Supply Management.” Last week, USPTO finally granted us the official registration of the trademark “SPSM.”
Conversely, earlier this year, the USPTO made final its refusal to allow the other organization to register its confusingly similar mark.
These facts, along with all of your expressions of confusion will make it easier to ensure that the profession is cleaned up of its copycats who seek to confuse you.
Therefore, while the continuation and growth in recognition of the SPSM Certification is certain, the introduction of the copycat certification is now very much in doubt.
