What is a registered trade mark?

A trade mark is a sign that identifies your company as the owner of the goods or services to which it is affixed or to which it refers.

Its primary purpose is to enable customers to find products or services which belong to or emanate from you in the market place; it is a ‘badge of origin’. The proprietor of a trade mark or a service mark has the right to use that mark exclusively.

Your trade mark is a part of your brand and a lot of the goodwill you generate will be associated with it. Typically, your trade mark will be a name or a logo and it is likely that, in the first instance, you will be wanting to file a word mark or a figurative mark to protect it. Trade marks can be registered on more unusual items such as a colour associated with a product or the shape of the product. Equally, such things as sounds, animations, and even gestures, may be registered as trade marks, although they are harder to register.

When registering a trade mark for a new business, you should try to find something that is distinctive and which stands apart from other brands, in order that it will not be confused in the marketplace. Second, it shouldn’t be descriptive – so branding your new chocolate bar “Chocolate” will not do. Likewise, you would not be advised to call your chocolate “ToblerBone” – because it would be too easily confused with the famous chocolate brand “Toblerone” and they would be able to oppose your trade mark applications and sue for trade mark infringement.

Trade marks are registered on either a national or a regional basis. So, if you wish to file a trademark in the USA, you will need to follow US trade mark application. In the UK, you could either file a UK application or use the European Union trade mark system which currently covers all the EU member states including the UK, although it won’t if the UK exits the European Union.

There is an international system called the Madrid Protocol that allows you to file in multiple separate countries utilising a single application only. The subsequent examination and prosecution of that international application is, however, done on a country by country basis, but the Madrid Protocol does provide a useful tool for making applications in the first instance.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to an Intellectual Property specialist, please call Jonathan Perlmutter on 01206 217620 for a free consultation. Visit business intellectual property solicitors for more information.