Trade marks - make the right choice

You know how important a trade mark can be when it comes to advertising or promoting the image of your business.  You know how important it is for identifying your products or services in the marketplace.  But do you also know how important it is to choose the correct trade mark?

What makes a good trade mark?

We don't mean correct from the creative or marketing point of view – that's where your advertising people come in – but from the point of view of needing a trade mark which you can use without risk of conflict with your competitors' trade marks, and which you can register to protect its exclusivity against competitors who might try to adopt a similar mark.

This is where we come in and where we can help you to avoid the pitfalls of selecting the wrong trade mark.

Avoiding conflict

A new trade mark does not have to be exactly the same as an existing trade mark for there to be a conflict.  Trade marks can also come into conflict when they have a similar appearance, pronunciation or meaning which could confuse customers.  It is too late to discover that your new mark resembles a competitor's existing mark after it has been launched, because you might then have to rebrand and perhaps pay compensation to the competitor.

A professional trade mark search should therefore be carried out as part of the selection process, to find out if your proposed mark is the same as or similar to any existing marks which might prevent its use and registration.  A check for identical marks on the Trade Marks Registry's website will not be detailed enough to locate confusingly similar marks.  To find these, you need a professional trade mark search.

Marks that can be registered

A new trade mark may be available for use if it doesn't conflict with any existing marks, but this is not the only requirement if you want to register it as your own.  The mark must also be capable of distinguishing your goods or services from those of your competitors.  In essence, this means that the trade mark must be uniquely attributable to you, rather than something which could apply equally to the goods or services of anyone else in the same field.  An informative name or phrase that is ideal for marketing purposes may not be distinctive enough for registration.

How we can help

We can help you through the process of trade mark selection by advising on the suitability of new trade marks for registration, by having trade mark searches carried out and by assessing the availability of the marks on the basis of the search results. We can also help to obtain protection for your trade marks by filing applications to register them and by steering those applications through the registration process.

If you'd like more information, please contact Michael Elliott .

Now may be just the right time…