Why bother with a US trademark registration?

Reason #963: So the city can’t make you change your signage.

15 USC 1121(b):

No State or other jurisdiction of the United States or any political subdivision or any agency thereof may require alteration of a registered mark, or require that additional trademarks, service marks, trade names, or corporate names that may be associated with or incorporated into the registered mark be displayed in the mark in a manner differing from the display of such additional trademarks, service marks, trade names, or corporate names contemplated by the registered mark as exhibited in the certificate of registration issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

• E-commerce platforms often will not honor takedown requests if you cannot provide a registration as evidence of trademark ownership.
• Holding a registration strengthens your position in the event of a domain dispute.
• You can use the federal registration symbol: ®
• Registration precludes others from registering the same or similar marks in connection with the same or related goods/services that are described in your registration.
• Registration is a public record of your claim to ownership in the mark. Ideally, that will deter others from adopting similar marks, and prevent disputes from arising at all.
• You can sue in federal court; you enjoy a presumption that you are the owner of the mark; and you become eligible to recover higher damages and attorney fees.
• Registration affords nationwide priority based on filing date. Without a US registration, your common law rights extend only to the geographic location(s) where you have been making actual use of the mark.
• You can use your US registration as a basis for obtaining registration in some foreign countries.
• Your registration becomes “incontestable” after five years on the Principal Register. That’s somewhat misleading because it can still be challenged on certain statutory grounds; but the available bases for challenge shrink considerably once the registration has become incontestable.
• You can record your registration with US Customs and Border Protection to help prevent the importation of infringing goods.
• You won’t be looking over your shoulder all the time (or, worse, blindsided when it happens), wondering if a senior user is going to shut you down and make you start all over.