![]() You are creating a visual representation of your brand since your logo is what your customers recognize you by and it’s what distinguishes you from your competitors. When it comes to registering your logo, simply by using it, you are creating a trademark. If you start a blog and design a new logo for it, you need to protect it. On the other hand, if you plan to expand your business, explore different ways to earn money, and reach out to new markets, it would be wise to register the trademark, so that no confusion arises if another company is using the same or a similar name as yours. You already have the right to use it in your market. If you own a small online business which you operate in one state and don’t plan on expanding into new markets, you don’t need to register the trademark of your name. By registering your trademark name, you’re declaring exclusive rights to it for your line of business. Registering the trademark protects you from losing your rights to it if some other company uses the same or a highly similar name. However, taking the extra step of registering both can give you important protection. In the United States, you own the copyright as soon as you put original work on a piece of paper or computer drive, and you win a trademark as soon as you use your name and logo for marketing your business. You certainly don’t have to register the copyright and trademark your company’s name or logo. Do you need to register a trademark and copyright for your logo or brand name? It should also be unique enough to differentiate your company from the competition.īecause your brand name ( blog name) and logo are part of the DNA of your brand and your business, applying for registration of the copyright and trademark of both is an important consideration. The logo needs to perfectly reflect your company’s market niche and brand personality. So the short answer to, “Should I trademark my business logo?”, is yes, if important elements of your mark are not adequately protected via a word mark.Your business has a name, and it also needs to have its own recognizable logo in order to establish a visual representation of your brand. This, in turn, will allow you to use any design when displaying your mark and will prevent any other similar word marks in similar industries from obtaining registration. A standard character mark will secure your exclusive rights to use the name in relation to your goods/services without any particular claim to style, design, or font. If you don’t have the capital available to afford both the word mark and logo, it’s preferable to obtain the word mark first or otherwise known as the standard character mark. So should I trademark my logo? Well, it depends. You should consider trademarking your business logo if the design elements add some type of source significance and you want to prevent others from using a similar design. This separate registration prevents other competitors in similar industries from adopting a tree design as their logo. As a result, it’s important to protect that design separate from your name so that others in the industry cannot use something similar that would cause confusion and result in the loss of the goodwill you’ve created with your consumers.įor example, Timberland owns the trademark for the name TIMBERLAND, but they also own a trademark for their circle tree logo. Consumers can come to recognize your brand by a simple mark, artistic design, or symbol without any words at all. Protecting Design Elementsĭesign elements of a trademark are often extremely important to protect. ![]() This way it can use them interchangeably and in any combination. ![]() For example, McDonald’s owns a trademark on the name “McDonald’s” as well as the logo of the golden arches. That way you can use the word phrase in any style you choose without forfeiting your rights. To avert this, it’s customary that you file your name and logo separately. Failure to do so will result in the loss of your trademark rights upon renewal, and a new filing of any new design will be required. ![]() Trademarks filed as design plus words must use that exact combination in relation to all its goods/services. A name and logo together is called a design plus words trademark. Unless you plan on using your logo’s exact depiction in all your uses and for the indefinite future, you should register the logo and words separately. Typically, if words are included in the design, you don’t want to get stuck with the exact positioning of the word and design elements. However, if your logo includes any words, you should register your business logo and word mark separately.
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