It requires a lengthier registration process for full legal protections.Ī logo can be eligible for both a trademark and copyright protection. It cannot be just an idea, but rather a tangible object that people can see.Ī trademark protects items that define a company and its brand, such as a business logo, slogan, words, and phrases. The main difference between a trademark and copyright is that they protect different types of assets and have different registration requirements.Ī copyright protects literary and artistic materials, such as film, writing, audio, books, videos, and computer programming, and is automatically protected upon creation. Trademarks and copyrights are used to legally protect intellectual property. Trademark and copyright are both forms of intellectual property, which are intangible assets such as inventions, literary works, artistic works, symbols, designs, names, and images. The takeaway here: The only way to make sure this doesn’t happen to your business is by registering your trademark! (You can’t make this stuff up!) Ultimately, the restaurant owner was fined $12,500 for not complying with the cease-and-desist order. When Louis Vuitton sent Louis Vuiton Dak a cease-and-desist letter, the restaurant changed their name…to “chaLouisvui tondak” thinking the new name was different enough. Just take a look at what happened to Louis Vuitton versus Louis Vuiton Dak! The French fashion house found itself in this exact situation when a fried chicken restaurant used a clearly similar name and a play on their logo. This is important as it prohibits foreign imports that might infringe upon your trademark. allows you to register your trademark in foreign countries. Money: Again, hopefully it never happens to you, but if you sue someone for trademark infringement, a registered trademark entitles you to collect money for damages.įoreign Market: Having your logo trademarked in the U.S. While I hope it never happens to you, if you do take someone to court for trademark infringement, the law is on your side. Law: Having a trademark attached to your logo enables you to take legal action against anyone who uses your design without permission. But because they had priority, their intellectual property was protected-even up against a mega-company like Facebook. The similarity between the products and logo would’ve likely caused confusion for users. If Current didn’t have priority over a trademark, they never would’ve been able to do anything about the infringement. The startup filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging trademark infringement, and as a result, Facebook changed its financial services name and logo design. This is what happened when a startup online bank called Current found out that Calibra, Facebook’s cryptocurrency service, was using a logo that was very (I mean very) similar to theirs. There’s not much you can do to prevent them from doing so-except to register your trademark. So, let’s say there is someone in your geographic area who wants to use a similar logo. Priority: By registering your logo as a trademark, you have the priority to use it. Here are the main reasons to trademark your logo: The long-term benefits will not only protect you but can also help you establish a wide-reaching brand presence. You don’t have to trademark your logo, but there are a lot of advantages to doing so. If someone wants to use a similar logo for a lawn care business, you can’t stop them from using it. So let’s say you use a logo for your candle business to distinguish yourself from all the others in the candle market. But it doesn’t mean you have the rights to it in general, only in connection with your specific goods or services. Now here’s where it gets a little tricky.Ī trademark means you legally own a particular word, phrase, design. More than just claiming your rights to it, a trademark prevents others from copying (or worse) stealing your logo. Intellectual property refers to the ownership of any creation, idea, or design by the person who came up with it.Ī trademark is not just a one time thing any trademark you own has to be an ongoing part of your brand. It is a recognizable mark which differentiates your business from others in the market.Ī trademark signals to others that it is your intellectual property of which you have the exclusive rights to. A trademark is a design, word, phrase, symbol, or logo (or a combination of these things) that identifies your business.
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