General (not jurisdiction-specific)

A person who lives in a place. Each statute defines the term for its own purpose. Residence is generally where a person actually lives, and a person can have several residences. Domicile is the one place a person treats as a permanent home and intends to return to. Federal immigration law defines residence as “the place of general abode,” meaning a person’s “principal, actual dwelling place in fact, without regard to intent” (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(33)). The tax code uses “resident” and “nonresident alien” only for people who are not U.S. citizens (26 U.S.C. § 7701(b)). State laws set their own tests. For example, California’s Vehicle Code defines a resident as a person who “manifests an intent to live or be located in this state on more than a temporary or transient basis,” and presence for six months in a year creates a rebuttable presumption of residency (Cal. Veh. Code § 516).

A person who holds citizenship of the United States. Under the Fourteenth Amendment and 8 U.S.C. § 1401, a person born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen at birth; others become citizens by naturalization or through a citizen parent. Every U.S. citizen is also a “national of the United States” (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(22)). Some legal theories say “U.S. citizen” means an employee or member of a federal corporation, pointing to 28 U.S.C. § 3002(15), which defines “United States” as “a Federal corporation” and federal agencies, and to the tax code’s withholding definition of “employee,” which includes federal officers and employees (26 U.S.C. § 3401(c)). Section 3002(15) applies only “as used in this chapter,” the federal debt-collection chapter, and no statute defines a citizen as a government employee. Courts read “includes” in § 3401(c) as adding to the term, not limiting it (United States v. Latham, 754 F.2d 747 (7th Cir. 1985)). A few program statutes call qualifying companies a “citizen of the United States” for that program, such as aviation (49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(15)).

A citizen of one of the states. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States “and of the State wherein they reside.” Article IV, Section 2 entitles the citizens of each state to the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. State constitutions use the term for qualifications such as voting, jury service and public office. The Supreme Court has said that state and national citizenship are distinct, and that “the same person may be at the same time a citizen of the United States and a citizen of a State” (United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 549 (1876)). Before the Fourteenth Amendment, some states treated immigrants who had declared an intent to naturalize as state citizens and voters. For federal diversity jurisdiction, a person is a citizen of a state only if he or she is a U.S. citizen domiciled there (Newman-Green, Inc. v. Alfonzo-Larrain, 490 U.S. 826, 828 (1989)).

Trademark rights that arise from actually using a mark in commerce, without federal registration. A common law trademark is generally protected only in the geographic area where the mark is used and known. The owner can still sue a competitor whose use is likely to confuse buyers about the origin of goods or services under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)) and under state unfair-competition law. An unregistered mark may carry the ™ symbol but not the ® symbol, which is reserved for federally registered marks (15 U.S.C. § 1111).

A word, name, symbol, device or combination of them that a person uses, or intends to use in commerce, to identify and distinguish his or her goods from those made or sold by others and to indicate their source (15 U.S.C. § 1127). A mark for services is called a service mark. Rights in a trademark come from using it in commerce; federal registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office adds nationwide notice and legal advantages. Only a federally registered mark may use the ® symbol (15 U.S.C. § 1111). The ™ symbol may be used with any claimed mark, registered or not. A trademark identifies the source of goods or services sold in commerce; it does not create ownership of a personal name or a legal status.