Trademarks are often among the most important and valuable assets of business. A distinctive trademark allows a business to build public goodwill and brand reputation in the goods or services it sells.
A trademark is any word, logo, symbol, or any combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.
Examples of well-known trademarks are:
→ Nike’s logo and their slogan ‘Just Do It’ which is a recognized trademark globally.
→ And Coca-Cola is an example of package design and a logo that is very recognizable and protected by trademark laws.
The same applies for a service as well. Service marks are often referred to as trademarks for convenience or because certain jurisdictions may not recognize the term service mark. A trademark or service mark can be a word, logo, slogan, package design, any other source indicator, or any other cognizable thing that serves or indicates a particular good or service.
Further examples of this include popular shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Bachelor, The Kardashians, and even the Netflix name and symbol itself that is recognizable and protected with trademarks!
Trademarks are statutory protections of commerce designed to protect consumers from confusion. Trademark rights can continue indefinitely, as long as the mark is neither abandoned by the trademark owner, nor loses its significance in the marketplace as a trademark by becoming a generic term.
Can you think of any generic terms that used to be a trademark?
For example,
→ a BIG MAC is a word for hamburgers
→ The Shell design is a logo for gasoline
→ The Ultimate Driving Machine is a slogan for automobiles
→ The Coca-Cola bottle is a package design mark (also referred to as a trade dress) for soft drinks
→ And Visa and American Express are both service marks for credit card services
Even a sound, smell, color combination, or a shape can be a trademark under certain circumstances. For instance, the color pink has become a well-known trademark for insulation used in building construction, while the color brown has become a service mark for package delivery services. Even the sound of certain chimes representing the notes G-E-C has become a trademark of NBC, the well known television broadcast company.
Filing For Protection
There are two types of protections for trademarks with the US trademark office. One is word mark, which is just the words. Tthe other is design mark, which is just the symbol. The average cost to get these protections is about $350 per class. You can do this on your own, or hire an attorney to do this for you.
I recommend word mark over design mark. For example on Amazon and other platforms similar to it, it can be easy to enforce a word mark being used to get the bad actor taken down.
Benefits of Trademarks
Like copyrights, trademarks are easy to monitor online. You can search a word and the word mark is easy to find and take down infringers or bad actors. There are all kinds of reporting tools that can help you manage infringements on different platforms including Alibaba, Amazon, and Ebay. Design marks are a little more tricky to enforce than word marks typically.
Trademarks are easy to use in litigation and it can get more damages than copyright infringement claims. A trademark owner can recover categories of monetary damages under the Lanham Act that include:
→ disgorgement of the defendant’s profits
→ actual damages
→ reasonable royalty
→ Attorneys’ fees in exceptional cases
→ And costs
FUN FACT: The reason why you see designer logos on everything is because it is so easy to place and statutory damages become higher. Hence the logomania.
I definitely recommend utilizing trademarks, it can easily bring your ideas value, as well as make it easier to manage infringements online and get bad actors removed.
Usually the process can take 12 to 18 months with the US Trademark Office. As it stands when this article is published, it can take even longer. We have had ones pending for two years.
My company also has German trademarks. We did this for a very strategic reason: the protection offered by most trademark registrations is traditionally limited to the country in which they are obtained. However, in this new digital age, you will find many selling platforms will allow you to use your trademark from another country to take down an infringer. To get a trademark more quickly, we filed in Germany, which made the process inexpensive and fast. You will need to hire a German trademark attorney to do this.
Be sure to check the trademark laws in your country before expanding to other places to get better protections in place.
Add ™ when using the word mark or design mark anywhere, this includes your website, packaging, and press releases. Do this immediately, there is no need to wait for registration. Once your trademark is granted and registered with the trademark office, make it an ® mark. Be sure to include a separate legal page on your ecommerce website and list out in detail the trademark registrations when you receive them.
Trademark Examples
For an example on trademarks, take a look at the RobeCurls design and word mark trademarks I have. I have the ‘wrap, wear, rock’ phrase trademarked as well as the H²air-Tex proprietary fabric that was created for the heatless hair Curling Headband.
Setting up your trademarks as you establish your products and brand can help you grow a business that is well-protected and in line with long-term success.