The term ‘trade mark’ is often thrown around in casual conversation and is a part of the business vernacular, however, not everyone who uses it is aware of its true and real meaning. A trade mark is not just a colloquial term – in fact, it’s very important business owners and creatives understand what a Trade Mark truly is, so they can arm themselves with complete protection across their IP and business activities.
So What IS a Trade Mark?
A trade mark is defined as a brand name or service mark that includes any word, name, symbol, device or particular combination that is intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of another. Simply put, the Australian Government’s IP Australia defines a trade mark as a ‘way of identifying a unique product or service.’
What is the Difference Between a Trade Mark and a Logo?
One of the common misconceptions people have is that a trade mark and a logo are the same things, but in reality, trade marks can be much broader. A trade mark is NOT is a business name, company name or domain name. Trade marks are defined by their uniqueness in product or service, not in the umbrella organisation or business that provides these trade marks for use or for sale.
Trade marks can take the form of:
- Letters
- Numbers
- Words
- Phrases
- Shapes
- Logos
- Pictures
- Sounds
- Smells
- Movements
- …and more.
By registering a trade mark, you reserve the exclusive right to use, license and sell that mark. This is an important tool to understand particularly in looking at maximising your business’s growth over time – the value of your trade mark can increase in correlation to the success of your business, and it’s crucial that you’ve got this protected from the beginning to prevent from copying or stealing by others later on.
What is the Difference Between a Trade Mark and a Design?
Trade marks are also different when it comes to designs (find out more in our Design Cheat Sheet). One of the key differences between trade marks and designs is that a design must be new or unique in order to be registered, whilst a trade mark does not. Designs refer more specifically to elements such as shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation of products, compared to trade marks which can be identifiers of one particular business, service or product over another.
Is a registered trademark mine forever?
Once you’ve identified your trade mark and had it registered, you must actively use your trade mark in order to keep it from being removed on the grounds of non-use. If this law was not in place, too many traders could register multiple trade marks just to keep competitors from using them, rather than using trade mark registration in the way it was intended – to define and separate their business, service or product out from the general market and from the sea of competitors.
Do you have a trade mark that needs registering? Talk to our team at ONE IP INTERNATIONAL about how we can service your complete IP needs.
