Can I protect my brand as a registered trademark?

Can I protect my brand as a registered trademark?

Whether you are filing a trademark in the UK, EU, US or anywhere in the world- some similar rules apply as to what will and won't be allowed as a registered trademark.

This could be useful when deciding on what your brand should be. There is little point in choosing a brand that you cannot legally protect. This is especially important for new brands who have not yet built up any reputation or goodwill in their mark.

One of the biggest mistakes is making your brand descriptive of the goods or services on offer. It's tempting to do this as it helps with Google rankings and helps identify your product. It's not so good however for a registered trademark.

For example if I want to produce my own biscuit brand- I wouldn't get a registered trademark for my biscuit.com! However it may be possible to call my IT firm this name as it would be seen as a brand indicator and not merely a description of the goods on offer.

This example shows us that generic terms are capable as functioning as a trademark as long as they are not descriptive- think Apple!

There are a number of other factors to consider when choosing a brand- including whether or not it is available.

If you like would like us to carry out a trademark search and advice report please get in touch and we'll find out if you can use your chosen brand!

Jane@trademarkroom.com

www.trademarkroom.com

Trademark