What Is a Trademark?
A trademark is a symbol that distinguishes the goods or services of one business from those of its competitors. Protectable trademarks can include words, letters, numbers, drawings, figures, colors, sounds, and combinations of these elements.
Types of Trademarks:
- Word trademarks: Consist of one or more words, letters, or numbers (e.g., names, slogans, abbreviations).
- Figurative trademarks: Include visual elements such as logos, images, or emblems.
- Combined trademarks: Incorporate both verbal and visual elements (e.g., a logo combined with a word). This is the most common form of trademark.
- Three-dimensional trademarks: Represent the shape or packaging of a product (e.g., bottles, boxes).
- Positional trademarks: Refer to the specific way a brand is attached or placed on a product.
- Sound trademarks: Consist of distinctive melodies or combinations of sounds.
- Color trademarks: Composed of a single color or a combination of colors.
- Other trademarks: Include less common types such as fragrance marks, motif marks, movement marks, multimedia marks, and hologram marks.
Why Register Your Trademark?
A trademark sets your company’s goods or services apart from those of competitors, making your business recognizable in the market. Registering your trademark provides legal protection against unauthorized use, ensuring that others cannot use your brand in ways that could harm your company’s reputation. Trademark registration also offers multiple avenues of protection—civil, administrative, and criminal.
Once registered, your trademark becomes a valuable intangible asset of your company. It prevents third parties from using the mark without your consent, including for advertising their own goods or services. Furthermore, your trademark can be commercially leveraged—it can be licensed, leased, transferred, or pledged.
If you would like to learn more about how to protect your trademark, contact the team at IPfabrika. They can provide comprehensive solutions for trademark registration, monitoring, protection, and management, as well as legal support in case of infringements or the transfer of trademark rights.
Image: Andrey Popov, Getty Images
