Registering trademarks is a key brand protection precaution, businesses and organizations have been advised.<\/p>\n
Business Link explained that trademarks provide a distinctive way of representing goods or services, which sets them apart from those of other traders.<\/p>\n
They are a badge of origin for a business or product, and help ensure only the creator and genuine rights holders are able to profit from their use.<\/p>\n
“Trademarks are a valuable piece of intellectual property (IP) and can play an important role in your marketing and branding activities,” Business Link stated.<\/p>\n
The advisory service noted that registered marks can be words, phrases or slogans, logos or symbols, signs or forms of packaging, and even sounds and jingles.<\/p>\n
Colors, gestures, brand names and company names can all be trademarks if they are used in a unique way by a particular individual, company or organization.<\/p>\n
“A trade mark must be distinctive for the goods and services you use it for. And it mustn’t mislead people about the nature of your products or services,” Business Link stated.<\/p>\n
The service explained that common law may offer some automatic trademark protection, provided sufficient trading reputation and goodwill have been built up in a mark.<\/p>\n
But where trademarks have been registered, there is no need to prove the facts in court – evidence of ownership is there in black and white.<\/p>\n
“It makes it much easier for you to take legal action against anyone who uses your trademark without your permission,” Business Link noted.<\/p>\n
“In fact, just registering a trademark can serve as a deterrent to people who might otherwise infringe it.”<\/p>\n
Figures published by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2011 suggested that companies and other bodies are recognizing the importance of securing the legal rights to their marks.<\/p>\n
The organization reported that trademarks are the most common form of intellectual property protection sought, ahead of patents, service marks and copyright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Registering trademarks is a key brand protection precaution, businesses and organizations have been advised. Business Link explained that trademarks provide a distinctive way of representing goods or services, which sets them apart from those of other traders. They are a badge of origin for a business or product, and help ensure only the creator and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[161,47],"class_list":["post-1838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brands","tag-brand-protection","tag-wipo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n