Questions on trade marks answered

What is a Trade mark?

A trade mark is a sign., symbol or a  word which helps people tell one product away from another.

Why should you register a trade mark?

Well if you register your trademark then no one will be able to use your brand name or any similar.

This will prevent any unnecessary conflict or confusion. This also allows you to build a safe reputation knowing no one can impose on that.

Many people will try to damage a reputation or make the public believe that they are the genuine product by using a similar brand name.

To protect your company from this, the best thing you can do is register your trade mark.

If you don’t register your trade mark it can be very difficult to stop this from happening however, if someone does use your brand name and you haven't registered your trade mark you can still prove superiority over your mark if you can show you have been using it for a longer period of time and there is a connection between you and the mark. Keep in mind this can be extremely time consuming and expensive.

Example: You are the owner of the Red Bull company and you didn't register your trade mark. Red Bull ( your company ) has become very successful and everyone knows it. One day someone opens their own business also with energy drinks, their brand logo is very similar to the red bull one and it is called Blue Bull. Many customers will get confused and will believe this is the same company and will start to buy it. This means someone has stolen your idea and is becoming successful because of you. 

You definitely don’t want this to happen, so remember to always register your trade mark to be safe.

How can trade marks benefit a business?

Trade marks can be very important to business owners because they help customers remember their company and come back to it. For example the logo or Red bull is price less because everyone knows it. Therefore its logo helps people remember how it looks like.

By Marcela Szuber- student in year 10 of Chamberlayne College For The Arts