The Seventh-day Adventist Church has registered two trademarks:

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST® and ADVENTIST®. In addition, it has common law claims to SDA as a famous mark associated with the Church.

Protection for the mark SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST is strong because of the distinctiveness of the use of the full name and its primary association with our Church. The Seventh-day Adventist Church and its members often refer to themselves with the shortened version of their name ADVENTIST®. Our trademark ADVENTIST® is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office establishing a first use date of 1894 and covering “religious observances and missionary services” as well as “educational instruction services and academics at grade school, high school and college levels.” The mark was originally considered as descriptive by the Trademark Office which would have meant that it would not have been registered for trademark purposes. However, it was accepted for registration given its acquired distinctiveness due to long and extensive use by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In order to protect the use of the trademarks, it is essential to take some basic but necessary steps to protect them. The steps outlined below are necessary in order to strengthen the registered trademark ADVENTIST®:

1. Always use the ® in conjunction with the marks SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST® and ADVENTIST®. Use the ™ symbol with SDA™. Further, if possible use some type of distinctive type face, preferably ALL CAPS to distinguish the mark from the surrounding text. For example, this will help the public to recognize ADVENTIST® as a registered trademark (ADVENTIST® Media).

2. Refrain from using ADVENTIST® in the following forms:
a. As a noun. We should NOT use phrases such as “What Adventists Believe.” While we know that that this phrase typically refers to “Seventh-day Adventists” and is commonly used as a descriptor, this weakens an argument that the term is a trademark. Instead, use “What Adventist® Church Members Believe.”
b. In the possessive form. This is because we want to use the mark as a modifier of a generic name.
c. As prefixes, suffixes, additions or deletions.

3. Good examples that strengthen the mark:
i. ADVENTIST® World Radio
ii. ADVENTIST® Review
iii.ADVENTIST® Television Network
iv.ADVENTIST® Media

4. If you become aware of non-conforming uses of the mark, promptly notify someone at the General Conference Office. The Office of General Counsel will also be working diligently on several other fronts to bolster the Church’s trademark, especially the ADVENTIST® trademark which is most open to vulnerability. If each person present takes the steps outlined above, this will help significantly in retaining for the Church this valuable intellectual property.