Name Trademark: Crucial Rules And Regulations That One Must Know
Trademark is the identity of your brand that helps your goods or services to be distinguished from others in the market. You must be thinking about getting your trademark registered to protect the unique name and fame of your business. Take a look at few important regulations before you register a trademark.
Not every trademark is made equal
Trademarks usually come in two basic types:
- Inherently distinctive, and
- Not inherently distinctive
Inherently distinctive trademarks are suggestive, arbitrary, or fanciful in relation to the services or products for which the mark is utilized. The easiest and strongest trademarks for protection are the fanciful marks. For instance, using Kodak for photographic material can be called a fanciful mark.
Marks that are not inherently distinctive are usually given less amounts of protection. The descriptive marks are not inherently distinctive, for instance, using battery extender for the battery chargers. Even surname or personal marks and the marks that are geographically descriptive are not considered inherently distinctive.
The preventive measure of trademark clearance
Before adopting your trademark or investing your money into a branding strategy, you need to make sure that the name you are planning to use is at all available. The tools used for determining this factor depends on the plans you have for the name.
You will only need to take a look at the state corporate name database in case it’s a corporate name to be used on the official documents. But, in case you are planning to use that name to your customers or clients, you should make sure that no other business in the same vertical is using that name.
Using or losing the trademark rights
In the US trademark law, the rights over a name gets established as a result of using that trademark. So, if you provide services or sell the products in relation to a brand name or trademark, you are gaining trademark rights. These are called common law rights, and they develop over the course of time. However, you should continue using that name and it must come up in your services or goods.
When you are a local, small business, you might make do with the common law rights. However, when your small business starts expanding or when you have a wide distribution channel, you should register a trademark online.
The protective shield of a registered trademark
It is always better to have a registered trademark than going ahead without one. You can at least use it as the defensive shield to make sure that the use of your name is never challenged. You also have the right to turn this shield into a sword and prevent others from using similar or the same name or symbol as you do. It will help you in preserving the brand’s uniqueness. Hopefully, you have a better understanding of rules and regulations of trademark registration in the US. It is time to get your own trademark registered without any further delay.
