Trademarks are at the crux of any business: from the name of your enterprise to the names of specific products, services and logos- any particular term or design that is unique to your business can be understood as a part of its trademark. These characteristics are key to building your brand identity and carving a unique niche for your business. And so, legally protecting these aspects of your business identity and making sure nobody else misappropriates them is intrinsic to running a successful business. This brings us to the topic of trademark registration, what it means and why you need to look into it, pronto!
What Is Trademark Registration?
TM registration basically refers to legally registering your business trademark(s) with the government and concerned authorities. When you register a trademark it will be recorded on file as part of your intellectual property.
What Does Trademark Registration Do?
In a nutshell, TM registration gives you proprietary rights and a legal claim over your trademark. Your trademark becomes a part of your legal property and this means that nobody else can lawfully access, use or reproduce it in any manner. In most cases, once you register a trademark you can use the ® next to the trademark whenever you publish/ showcase it in any medium. This tells the world that the trademark is formally registered and hence the sole property of the business.
Why Is Registering Your Trademark Important?
TM registration is of the utmost importance for business-owners because trademarks are a fundamental unit of your business identity, and protecting it is directly linked to the success of your business. Think of trademarks as your calling cards in the market: trademarks are how your customers and clients will tell you apart from your competitors. By using and leveraging trademarks effectively a business can create a lasting impression in the minds of their target audience and really strengthen brand recall and customer loyalty. Given the potential of trademarks to guarantee you a place in the market and subtly cull out the competition, it makes sense to seek whatever legal protection you can.
How TM Registration Can Help Your Business
When you register a trademark and start using the ® symbol it sends a clear message to your customers, clients and competition. It also forbids anyone from using your trademark(s). What TM registration essentially does is that it legally prohibits anyone from using your trademarks and if they still persist in doing so you can easily pursue legal action against them. The primary purpose of TM registration is to protect you against unpleasant competition, fraud and counterfeiters. You can seek the help of the authorities should anyone illegally reproduce your trademark.
Other than this TM registration also helps with business licensing concerns. Whether you’re registering your business with the concerned business bureaus or you are obtaining a specific license or permit for some purpose, having a registered trademark on file can help make your case with the authorities and hasten it up.
Another time that trademarks come in handy is if you decide to sell your business. This might not be a part of your agenda when you’re starting out but if you decide to sell your business at some point you will find that having your TM registrations in place will come in handy. You cannot sell what you don’t own and if a prospective buyer for the business wants to purchase all your licenses and wants to make sure that he/she has all future rights over the business and its trademarks they will invariably insist on TM registration.
