MEANING
As the
term itself suggests, a "trademark" is
a "mark" - a sign of recognition of
the origin, manufacturer, or provider of products or services - which
is used for the "trade" of such
products or services. Hence, the word "trade-mark"
or "trademark".
Commonly, a trademark is a word or a
combination of words, or a symbol (logo that may
include words or not) usually stamped on products,
product boxes, tags, or shown on the header of
websites, that helps consumers identify the origin, the manufacturer, or
provider of the products or services. There are
other types of trademarks, like sounds, smells, but
these trademarks are not common.
Trademarks, you might have noticed, are everywhere
you turn your head in modern countries.
POWER
A
trademark, as hinted above, allows consumers to identify the origin of
a product. Many and complex are the consequences of
such a fact. Following are a couple of examples
that,
in simple words, will make you understand the
importance of such a statement:
Would we ever know that a certain flat screen TV is
a Sony, if the Sony trademark did not appear on the
frame of that TV? Probably not. How many people would
buy that TV without the trademark on it? Not many.
Probably no one would buy it without knowing "what" they
would
buy. How many, instead, would buy the same TV
just because of the small Sony trademark on its
frame? Surely many (and for good reasons). This is the point we
want to make. That little logo, in some cases,
especially when it contains the word "Sony", or any other
famous trademark, is...yes...a "money making
machine" for anyone who uses it. It is obvious,
therefore, that Sony Corporation want to have exclusivity in the use of it, and prevent others
from doing the same.
Also...wouldn't
you make money if you put on the market a nice
looking flat screen TV, and decided, even not being
Sony Corporation, to use the trademark SONY for it,
maybe just a little different in look? Indeed!
Many people would buy from you believing that you are
the good Sony Corporation. Sony Corporation would
loose money, and you (impersonal) would make (fraudulently) a lot
of it, profiting from the
great reputation that Sony Corporation has built
among consumers with years of hard work, complex
marketing efforts, and expenditure of vast amount of
capital.
It is
easy to understand the unfairness of this practice.
It is also easy to imagine how quickly whoever would attempt to do this, would be called before a court by Sony
Corporation to pay for damage and loss caused.
The
above
examples surely made you understand the value and
power of trademarks, why diligent
businesses spend a fortune to protect them, why
protection is granted to trademarks by law, and registration systems have been developed in all
countries.
AVOID TROUBLES
Sometimes infringement can be involuntary, not
intentional, but still can create troubles to the
infringer, and needs to be avoided. Diligent
entrepreneurs for the sake of their enterprises,
avoid to choose and put on the market trademarks
that are confusingly similar to trademarks
already established on it by having a comprehensive
trademark availability search performed.
As well, you want
to avoid to receive a "cease and desist"
letter from an attorney gently asking you to shut
down your website, change your trademark, or remove your product from
the shelves of stores, and eventually pay damages
because your trademark is confusingly similar to
that of her/his client. This is something you always
want to avoid.
TRADEMARK SERVICES
For the above
said, the typical trademark services are: trademark
availability searches, registrations, monitoring,
and maintenance. Take a look at the "Trademark
Services" we provide to avoid
infringement problems, and protect your trademark.
We give you options and the opportunity to run your
business smoothly with a successful
trademark; a trademark that is carefully chosen,
quickly registered, well protected, and always alive.
>>
Trademark services
>>
See
also FAQ