The symbol is a signal to other businesses that only this business can use the trademark, and there will be legal consequences if it is copied. Branding wouldn’t exist businesses couldn’t build brand equity, and consumers would not know what to expect when they bought a product.Ī trademark can be identified with a TM symbol on the right side of a logo, brand name, or tagline. The government recognizes that people would be confused if any business could use any name or logo they wanted to sell something. A trademark is a symbol, name, or phrase that only one business has the right to use. The tool we use to protect logos is the legal concept of a trademark. Someone will benefit from all of your brand marketing if they can copy your logo. Failure to register the name and logo separately would limit their rights to police the use of both the name and the logo.If you cannot protect your brand from other people using your name and logo, then investing in a brand at all makes little to no sense. PepsiCo owns trademarks on all those logos in addition to a trademark on the word Pepsi (and the phrase Pepsi Cola). In other words, in 1940 they would have owned only the trademark to Pepsi Cola when written in that calligraphic font. If they had, they would only own the rights to Pepsi Cola, or just Pepsi, in the displayed form. Do you think Pepsi only registered their logo, since it included the brand name in it? You might notice that many of these brands include their names in the logo, the most famous of which is Pepsi. The linked article about changing logos features many famous brands. Why open your company to possible attacks on your trademark when you can secure it right from the start? Real world applications There will come a point when you have to file separately for your name and logo during the application process with thee U.S. So was cutting a few hundred dollars in expenses during trademark filing worth your while, if you had to spend that money down the road anyway? If not – where does that leave your trademark protection prospects?Īt that point you must file both applications. What happens if your new logo doesn’t include the brand name? You can force it in there, but that’s not always possible. Design changes and evolves over time, so you will almost certainly wish to update your logo at some point. Why would you take a step that blatantly reduces those exclusive rights for your small business? When trademarking a name and logo at the same time becomes a problemĬompanies change logos all the time. You are filing trademark applications to protect your rights. You will never have the same rights as if you filed the federal trademark for the name and logo separately. If another company tried to register your name as a trademark, you might have a case to object. This might work well enough for you if you always use your name in conjunction with your logo. You only own the trademark rights to the name and logo displayed together as a single unit. You don’t own the federal trademark rights to the name by itself, or the logo by itself. Because you filed them in the same application, the USPTO sees just one trademark. You now own the trademark–to your combined name and logo.ĭon’t think you can separate these two elements. The USPTO has approved your application, so congratulations. Let’s say you did take this horrible advice and filed your name and logo as one application. You almost assuredly want to trademark your logo and name separately. If a trademark attorney suggest you do this, walk away immediately – they’re giving terrible legal advice.Ĭombining applications for trademark registration might appear attractive, but it will only harm your ability to protect your intellectual property in the long run. If you display your company name along with your logo, wouldn’t filing them together save you time and money? After all, you’d then only have to file two applications and therefore pay only two fees, rather than three.ĭo not let this shortcut tempt you. Additionally, you might be subject to greater legal fees if you’ve chosen to work with an attorney on top of the filing fee with the trademark office.Īt this point it might make sense to combine filings. For example, if you wish to trademark your business name, your logo, and a product name, you will pay the application fee three times. Each trademark you file incurs a separate application fee.
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