Your brand is your image, and a trademark legally protects the unique and specific aspects of your brand. By carrying a legal weight of representing a brand or a business along with its products and services, Trademark Protection can apply to words, logos, symbols, phrases, color schemes, packaging design, unique labeling, signatures, sounds, movements, or any combination that uniquely identifies a product and distinguishes it from others.
IMPORTANCE OF TRADEMARKS
Businesses and brands with Registered Trademarks make it easier for customers to locate their services along with the products offered. Whether your customers are browsing the internet, active on social media, or simply walking around the neighborhood, trademarks help them in immediately identifying your company and its available services and products.
Every company or individual with a trademark owns the legal right to its protection as well. If any other person, business firm, or organization starts selling identical products or comes up with something likely to create confusion in the minds of the customers, the trademark owners can initiate legal proceedings against such unauthorized use. The value of a trademark increases as the reputation of the company or its brand gets better with time. Customers usually stay loyal to their favorite brands, which further steps up the value of the company. Furthermore, a trademark holds immense potential in quickly becoming the highest-valued Intellectual Property (IP) or asset owned by a company as it will stand on the pillars of loyalty and high-quality in the eyes of the customers.
Trademark Registration can also prove to be fruitful in turning your trademark into a valuable and transferrable asset, which your business can use anytime in negotiating better business deals or providing more financial security. A well-protected trademark is substantially more likely to thrive, even when the economy begins to go downhill, while flimsy trademarks won’t last for long in troublesome financial conditions. Failing to register a trademark, damages the brand, destroys the reputation and risks the Intellectual Property Protection.
Many individuals and business firms believe that registering a domain name or business entity name offers the same protections and rights as a trademark. However, people must understand that registering a company name or a domain name will not prevent any third-party from using an identical or a similar name. Therefore, businesses of all sizes should be proactive in developing a strategy for trademark protection to keep their brands safe. It is also vital to make a point of the fact that using a trademark should never infringe or violate any other already registered trademark.
Maintaining a strong trademark portfolio that is enforceable helps a trademark owner in looking for possible conflicts, including the people who might be diluting the trademark or infringing on its protection. The prime purpose of the Trademark Law is to safeguard the owners from losing sales and income due to the presence of confusingly similar marks in the market among which a customer can’t differentiate.
CREATING A TRADEMARK
Before registering a trademark, it is imperative to ensure that the proposed mark meets all the requirements as specified by the jurisdiction in which you are planning to file the Trademark Application.
For seeking trademark protection, the proposed mark must be distinctive, as per the four categories mentioned below:
- GENERIC: As generic terms can be used by almost everyone, a trademark shouldn’t be too generic.
- DESCRIPTIVE: Descriptive terms can qualify for protection if an additional meaning is provided, which adequately proves the public connection to the proposed mark.
- SUGGESTIVE: This category requires the customers to think creatively and understand the link between the proposed mark and goods or services provided.
- ARBITRARY OR FANCIFUL: This category refers to the made-up phrases, words, or names with a meaning that don’t relate to the products or services offered. For instance, the trademark ‘Apple’ owned by Apple Inc.