[jmyeet]

It's complicated.

It is worth noting that for a trademark to be enforceable it has to be in use, at least in the US. So if you're not going to use it in any way, then yeah it has no value.

But if you are going to use that trademark then it can give you an awful lot of protection. Note that defense of a trademark is usually around if there is potential for confusion. Say the trademark is the name of a medicine and your trademark includes that name but you sell luggage, the phamaceutical company doesn't really have a claim against you because they don't operate in that area and there's no potential confusion. If you want to sell first aid kits however that might be a problem.

Without a trademark, you may still face a company who does have a trademark.