When starting a business, you need a clear digital marketing strategy and the selection of a unique name and logo for your business recognition is paramount. And then you need to take care of certain intellectual property rights for the protection of your logo. The type of intellectual property rights which are applicable to a logo is trademark.
A trademark is basically a symbol, word, design or a letter used by a company to distinguish its products and services from others. As the business progresses, trademark becomes your brand recognition and you need to secure it by getting trademark rights. A logo is a trademark with design to differentiate a company’s product among others.
Once you’ve selected a logo, the next step is to trademark it. This could become quite challenging if you do not consider the legal implications trademarking can lead to. Therefore, you must be well informed and aware of all the consequences.
Discussed below are some of the legal implications related to logo trade marking.
Trademarking A Logo That Already Exists
Often in the rush of setting up your business, you don’t realize whether your chosen logo is unique or not. This would not only pose a threat to your business in the long term but even if it’s slightly similar to a logo used by another company, you can be sued for privacy infringement. Therefore, it is essential that you conduct a thorough research before finalizing the logo.
Not Considering the Limitation of Words
Legal problems can take place if you do not pay attention to the use of words in your logo at the time of trade marking it. Because there are some words that can cause confusion or may deceive people with another brand or corporation, you must ensure that no such words are chosen. For example, the use of words such as Registration and Royal are not preferred because this indicates a close representation of Royal Arms or seal of the Commonwealth. If this is not taken into consideration, you are definitely subjected to legal problems.
A Trademark Logo That Provides Same Services as another Entity Having the Same Logo
This is quite complicated yet a sensitive issue. When trade marking your logo, make sure you do not represent those services which are offered by another company with a logo similar to yours. You will be subjected to penalties in this case too because this is trademark infringement.
Threatening Small Businesses to Change Trademarks
Many influential businesses tend to suppress and dominate small businesses, forcing them to retreat their trademarks and change their advertising strategies. This is considered illegal and any business seen to be doing such law violations will ultimately face consequences.
Thus, it is vital for businesses to be cautious when trade marking their logo no matter how much time they need to invest in searching the right trademark. Furthermore, they must refrain from adopting any unlawful means to force companies withdrawing their logos because this will eventually lead to problems for you.