In the USA, a chartered mark is a trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 or service mark

Service mark

A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in some countries, notably the United States, to identify a service rather than a product. When a service mark is federally registered, the standard registration symbol ® or "Reg U.S. Pat & TM Off" may be used...

 which is given special statutory protection separate from the usual registration of trade marks and service marks. A chartered mark, in effect, is a type of trademark/servicemark in which the organization is granted the mark "by charter

Charter

A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...

", i.e. by express grant of the legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

. When an organization is granted a chartered mark, no one else may use the same mark at all for any purpose. (There are possible exceptions for organizations using the same or a similar mark before it was chartered.)

Examples of chartered marks in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 include FDIC for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...

; Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for the Boy Scouts of America

Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...

 and the Girl Scouts of the USA

Girl Scouts of the USA

The Girl Scouts of the United States of America is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It describes itself as "the world's preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls". It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912 and was organized after Low...

, respectively; and Olympic for the United States Olympic Committee

United States Olympic Committee

The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...

.