Do’s and Don’ts: Trademarks “Register Now, Don’t Wait!”

The quickest way to identify someone’s product is by their logo or their packaging design. This is why it is important for companies to protect their marks and identifiers by registering their marks. Companies spend millions of dollars on making their products unique. They understand that it is easier for consumers to identify a company’s product by their logo and the familiarity of a product’s design. So, companies solidify their goods and services with their trademarks and service marks. The United States Patent and Trademark Office states that the purpose of a TRADEMARK is to “protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods. Trademarks, unlike patents, can be renewed forever as long as they are being used in commerce” and a SERVICE MARK is “a word, name, symbol or device that is to indicate the source of the services and to distinguish them from the services of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms “trademark” and “mark” are often used to refer to both trademarks and service marks.” There are criteria and requirements for registration that you should be aware of that we cannot possibly get into in this short article.

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