Securing Trademark Rights

April 1, 2009
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

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.