Managing a business entails a mix of tasks from various professions. As an entrepreneur, you deal with bookkeeping, selling, marketing, customer service, and maintenance daily. But there is one area of business security that is all too often overlooked, and we’re not talking about workplace alarm systems or GDPR.
How many entrepreneurs recognize that their brand may one day become their most valuable asset and that having a registered trademark is the best way to preserve it? Trademarking may protect many parts of a brand, and all businesses should consider registering their name, logo, essential product/service names, and slogans.
Why Is Trademarking Important?
- If you want your company, brand, product, or service to stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to register a trademark.
- By registering your trademark, you can verify that no one else is imitating your product or service on the market, avoiding the need to rebrand.
- Furthermore, if you want to protect your intellectual property and guarantee your rights, you must register a trademark in India.
Every aspiring entrepreneur should be aware of the numerous benefits of trademark registration. So, here’s a rundown of the top ten benefits of trademarking your brand name.
1. Exclusive Rights
A registered trademark belongs to the person who owns it. The owner can use the same trademark for all other products in the application’s class(es).
The proprietor also has exclusive control of the trademark and can prohibit others from using it in the class(es) it is registered. It also gives the owner the ability to sue anyone who infringes on their property without permission.
2. Builds Trust and Loyalty
Trademarks signify a product’s or service’s reputation and quality. Customers in the market get confidence and recognition by registering a trademark.
It also helps you build a loyal and long-term customer base who will continuously choose your trademarked brand over others.
3. Product Differentiation
Trademark registration makes it simple for customers to locate your goods. It sets your product or service out from the competition while also acting as a powerful advertising tool.
This is also because your trademark or logo indicates your company’s vision, quality, and unique quality.
4. Provides Identity to a Product’s Quality
Trademark registration offers tangible proof of your product or service’s value and worth. This is because customers identify a service or product’s quality with its trademark.
Furthermore, this awareness benefits in acquiring new clients who mistakenly distinguish the quality of a product or service based on its logo.
5. Asset Creation
When a corporation registers a trademark, it acquires the intellectual property. Trademark registration is a legal right that can be bought, transferred, delegated, franchised, or economically contracted.
Furthermore, a trademark functions as an intangible asset in a company’s balance sheet, providing all of the benefits associated with such assets.
6. Legal Right to Use the ® Symbol
When a trademark is registered, you can include the ® sign in your logo to show that it is a registered trademark and that no one else can use it.
If someone else uses your trademark without your permission, you have the right to prosecute in court for such blatant infringement of your exclusive usage rights.
7. Protection Against Infringement
If someone uses a trademark without the owner’s permission or in a misleading manner, the owner can seek an injunction to prevent the individual from using the trademark without permission.
Your trademarked logo cannot be used by anyone else, including competitors.
8. Low-Cost Protection 10-Year
Trademark registration is cost-effective and allows your business to keep a distinct brand. Maintaining a trademark registration online is simple and inexpensive.
Similarly, all you have to do to register a trademark is pay the protection charges and the renewal fee, which is required after 10 years of trademark registration.
9. Global Trademark Registration
If you wish to grow outside of India or register a trademark in another country, don’t worry; a trademark previously registered in India can serve as a strong foundation for gaining international recognition.
Because of all the goodwill accumulated, a trademark previously registered in India can be utilized as the basis for registration in another nation.
10. Attract Human Resources
Young talent is known to be attracted to well-known businesses. Furthermore, young people prefer to work for large firms since they offer better benefits and payment security.
The registration of a trademark projects a positive image of a company. Furthermore, this lowers the cost of recruitment and other related activities.
Why Register Trademark?
Trademarks are important for a variety of reasons. Here’s a quick rundown of some of them.
icon-angle-right Trademark registration establishes legal ownership of your brand
In most cases, trademark rights are established by registration. In some countries, limited trademark rights can be acquired by the use of the trademark, but in most nations, this is either impossible or exceedingly difficult. To have firm legal ownership of your brand, you should register your trademark as a general rule.
icon-angle-right A trademark registration gives you more freedom to operate
It is possible (and perhaps likely) that someone in another nation will register a similar name if you do not register your trademark. The majority of disputes are unintentional.
Every day, more than 15,000 trademark registrations are filed. Likely, you’re not the only one who has come up with a name. It might be highly problematic and costly if someone registers a similar name in a country that is essential to you.
icon-angle-right Trademark registrations serve to alert others to your rights
When you register your trademark, it becomes publicly available for other companies to find and consider. By registering your trademark, you can reduce the chances of someone infringing on your rights.
icon-angle-right Save money
Trademarks are a type of intellectual property that is reasonably inexpensive. Whether you are being accused of infringement or accusing someone of infringing on your rights, registering your trademarks will save you money in the event of a dispute.
It doesn’t matter who is right in the end; if your rights are violated, it will cost all sides money and other resources.
icon-angle-right Develop stronger collaborations
Local partners in many countries, notably Asia, insist that your trademark be protected. Why? They’re also putting money, resources, and reputation on the line to make your items available to their customers and clients in their own countries.
If you haven’t safeguarded your trademark, they’re also subject to local knock-offs and rip-offs. By failing to protect your trademark, you are signaling your local partner that you are uninterested in preserving their interests.
As a result, by protecting your trademark, you are also safeguarding the interests of your local partners, and as a result, you will be able to attract far better partners.
icon-angle-right Make your brand more valuable
Trademark registration raises your brand’s worth. Registered trademarks are one of three components that contribute to the value of your brand, according to ISO standards (10668:2010).
icon-angle-right Intellectual property protection is important to investors
Investors place a higher value on organizations that have safeguarded their intellectual property. This is due to a variety of factors.
One is that, unlike actual assets, the value of the intellectual property can grow eternally, and another is that intellectual property protection decreases operational risks.
icon-angle-right Registering a trademark is a serious matter
It isn’t easy to take seriously a corporation that doesn’t preserve its brand building and commercial Identity. Trademarks are identifiers of a company’s commercial origin. How can a corporation be taken if it does not claim ownership of its own economic Identity?
icon-angle-right The ® symbol is used for marketing purposes
Using the ® symbol signals to customers that the product and its business origin are valuable assets. The TM sign shows that the brand owner believes in the product and does not want competitors to take advantage of its goodwill. The ® sign boosts consumer confidence.
icon-angle-right Making the most of revenue sources
Licensing relies heavily on trademark protection. Licensing is not limited to large international corporations. Many of the startups we represent have a business plan that includes licensing their technology and brand.
Technology licensing is a great method to put your company in the spotlight. In the end, the brand will be more valuable than the technology if done well.
Protection of National Rights: A Legal Justification for Obtaining a Trademark
The main legal reason for registering a trademark is to protect it from infringement. If someone is infringing on your trademark rights, you can use your trademark registration to pursue legal action against them.
This means you can sue them in any court in the United States, effectively enforcing your trademark across the country. While this is uncommon due to the high cost of lawsuits, the registration alone is generally enough to deter individuals who might consider infringing on your trademark.
Will there be a small proportion of persons who will infringe on your trademark regardless of the circumstances? Unfortunately, this is always a possibility. We have the legal motivations for acquiring a registered trademark because of that group.
Defending Your Trademark: Avoiding the Cost of a Lawsuit
Another popular reason to register a trademark is that it allows you to assert your rights without the need for a costly lawsuit.
There are several significant Internet corporations globally, such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Assume that someone has created a Facebook page with the same name as your trademark and that you control the federal registration. You can use this registration to register a complaint with Facebook.
It doesn’t take long to prepare and allows you to say, “Hey, your system has someone utilizing my trademark.” We need your assistance to put an end to this.” In many circumstances, Facebook will side with the owner of the federal registration and tell you the username or page using the trademark.
This is true of a wide range of Internet businesses. As the virtual economy grows and more trade moves online, the ability to stop infringement before it becomes a major problem will become increasingly important.
Because of the pervasiveness of Internet culture in today’s business world, being able to contact significant corporations and request their assistance in eradicating infringements is essential.
In many circumstances, if you don’t own the federal registration, they won’t be able to assist you because they rely on the federal system to determine who owns what.
Finally, it’s crucial to remember that trademark registration takes at least eight months to complete. This means that you should apply as soon as possible to ensure that your trademark is well-protected.
You’ll want to make sure you have the resources you need to go out and enforce your trademark as soon as possible.
About the Author!
James Treanor is an Intellectual Property expert, a graduate of the University of California. Founder of Brealant an IP Firm in the Philippines. Brealant is an accomplished IP services firm that focuses on intellectual property, with expertise in trademark and patent registration. The services they offer since founding in 2002 have helped companies and individuals with the registration and management of all aspects of Intellectual Property. Brealant team is situated in various locations around the world, such as in the USA, Hong Kong, the Philippines, & Mexico. Philippine’s branch provides English language customer support as well as back-office operations support. Hong Kong & Mexico offices provide Chinese and Spanish language legal services and support. USA office provides IP leadership.