Archive for the ‘Brand Names’ Category
A young company, introducing its products to the market and building customers’ loyalty, should secure its name and reputation by getting trademark rights. Protecting its trademark rights against unprincipled competitors’ imitation or outright theft, a start-up company assures its name and distinctive logo will become one and the same with quality and value.
Experts strongly recommend an entrepreneur retain a patent attorney to advise, counsel, and guide the process of securing his fledgling company’s trademark rights. After the entrepreneur submits his company’s name, logo, and slogan to the patent attorney, the attorney carefully searches the South African Trademarks Office, making sure they are unique and applicable to the company’s products and services.
A company’s ownership of its name does not automatically secure its trademark rights; especially, if a company produces several lines with different names, its executives should protect their trademark rights for all the different products.
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Every once in a while a trademark lawsuit makes headlines. One that is worth mentioning is that of the Naked Cowboy, a well-known personality that plays guitar on the streets of New York in his trademark underwear. He has recently made a trademark lawsuit against the makers of M&M for infringing on his trademark rights. They have displayed a clip of a cartoon character on a billboard playing an instrument in the Naked Cowboy’s trademark underwear. The makers of M&M has since then retracted the ad. This case highlights the sensitivity around trademark usage. Even using another person’s trademark in an ad can lead to a trademark lawsuit. If you believe that such a trademark infringement has taken place regarding your brand, don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance.
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Trademark applications may be unsuccessful when specific conditions for trademark registration are not met. A few reasons for unsuccessful trademark applications are listed below:
When the mark does not fall within the allowable definition range
When it is not able to distinguish goods or services
If the mark has become customary for goods or services
When there is no clear bona fide purpose for the usage of the mark
Should the mark be a copy or imitation of another registered mark for goods
If it indicates patronage
If such a registration will limit the growth of a particular industry
Should the trademark applications indicate deceptive marks
Should it be likely to cause confusion
Any mark similar to one already in use.
Contact us to help you with the procedures regarding trademark applications and prevent lawsuits, objections, and wasting of money.
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It is important to note that although trademark filing procedures can be followed that the application for registration may not necessarily be successful. The reasons are that there may already be a similar trademark registered or that the application does not meet the criteria for registration. As such before commencing with the trademark filing you should consult with Intellectual Property lawyers as the trademark filing will only be successful if the mark will be able to distinguish your goods or brand from other brands. If the mark is reasonably required by other traders regarding specific goods, the trademark filing will not be successful. It is essential that the goods or the services be described accurately in the trademark filing as there are various classes under which protection can fall. It must be noted that an objection can be filed should the application show that trademark conflicts with other existing marks or is deceptive.
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Trademark license granting is when the owner of a registered logo or brand – thus trademark provides the right to usage or trading to other parties. The owner granting the usage through a trademark license agreement may wish to do so for the purpose of expanding business, doing marketing or gaining financial benefits from the commercial exploitation of his trademark. A person or company may thus approach the owner for a trademark license agreement which may be subject to annual renewal of the agreement or which there may be certain conditions such as geographical limitations, association, payment of royalties, usage only under specific circumstances or for specific products. Such a trademark license agreement should not be taken lightly, as the terms and conditions must be spelled out in a clear and concise manner without contrasting rights provided. It is recommended that you approach the attorneys of Smit & Van Wyk for assistance in setting up trademark license agreements.
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The first thing to remember when designing product logos for your brand, is to keep a coherent theme throughout that should also be identifiable with your company logo. The idea behind coherent product logos is to strengthen the branding and to ensure that should a case of trademark infringement arises, that the court will place enough weight on your family of company and product logos to rule in your favor. When consumers see one of your product logos, they must immediately be able to recognize the brand. The second factor for the designing of product logos is uniqueness. Trademarks will only be granted to a family of product logos that uniquely identifies the products as belonging to a specific brand.
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It doesn’t mean you have trademark rights to your company logos simply because you have designed them. It should also be noted that a company name is not the same as a trademark. When you start a business you can select any name. When registering the business the name however, cannot be the same as another business name within the same industry. You will design company logos to fit the images of your various businesses and use them in practice for branding. Only once you have registered the company logos as trademarks will you have the exclusive right to use the company logos for the branding of your business, products, and services.
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Brand names should be protected as far as possible with competition being no longer only local, but also international. A company may think that they have 100% ownership over their brand names, but may look on the Internet just to find that various websites throw around similar brand names. Stealing brand names not registered has become quite common and the only way to safeguard against such actions is by registering the brand names and by taking legal action where required against misuse and unauthorized usage of a company’s registered brand names. If found that there is due cause for legal action, the issue should be handed over to patent and trademark lawyers to handle in a professional manner. The first step to the protection of brand names however, is to register them in the correct manner.
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Ringnes, the largest brewer in Norway, is the distributor of PepsiCo beverages in Norway. They claim to have been using the Zero name on non-alcoholic beverages since 1972 - see artikkel.php?artid=134118
Would be interesting to see what comes of this?! and then also what PepsiCo's moves will be.
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Brands or Brand Names originated in the 19th century with the advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, for example soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally burn or brand their logo or insignia onto the barrels or crates that they used, and this is where the term comes from.
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