General Provisions governing trademarks and service marks are found in California Business and Professions Code, Sections 14200 et seq.

The Secretary of State's office maintains registration and all updates of trademarks and service marks used in California, making this information accessible to the public upon request. California is the busiest state registration office in the country and has the largest number of registrations of any state, consisting of over 80,000 active marks.

The Trademark Unit is also responsible for the registration of various other filings, such as container brands, which could be a name, mark or device impressed or produced on a container (Business & Professions Code, Section 14425), laundry marks (Business & Professions Code, Section 14480), and the names of farms, ranches, estates, or villas (Business & Professions Code, Section 14460).