SAAS refers to a method of software delivery and licensing in which software is accessed online via a subscription, rather than bought and installed on individual computers. This type of service may be somewhat similar to downloadable software in International Class 9, but for SAAS, the software resides on the service provider's system. 

A service mark is used in commerce "when it is used or displayed in the sale or advertising of services and the services are rendered in commerce." 15 U.S.C. § 1127; see also In re Universal Oil Prods. Co., 476 F.2d 653, 177 USPQ 456, 457 (CCPA 1973) (“The minimum requirement is some direct association between the offer of services and the mark sought to be registered therefor.”).

A mobile phone screen with a tab that would direct a user to a website, where the user would then receive SAAS services relating to the user's account, could show use of a downloadable mobile phone application, but not SAAS because such an indirect “chain-of-events” type of use would not meet the statutory definition of a service mark. Instead, the relevant service mark use with the SAAS services would appear on the website when the user reaches that site for information on her/his account. 

The TTAB recently affirmed that a specimen of use that displayed the HEARTIFY composite mark in connection with a mobile phone app, did not show use for SAAS services. In re Heartify LLC, Ser. No. 97768868 (TTAB Nov. 4, 2024). Because every specimen showed or provided information about Applicant's mobile phone application, rather than anything resembling SAAS services, the TTAB held that these specimens failed to show use of the mark in connection with the SAAS services.