Registrable As A Trade Mark example essay topic

Protecting your Brand One of the main legal ways of protecting a brand is by trade mark registration. But not everything you might think of using as a brand is registrable as a trade mark. The requirements of the current Trade Marks Act 1953 mean that in the right circumstances the shapes of packaging, colours, sounds even smells as well as the more conventional words and logos may be registered as trade marks. This amounts to recognition by the legal system of something you probably knew already - that all of these things can function as brands.

But the crucial thing to remember is, the more unusual, the more - in the jargon - distinctive your brand is, the easier it is to legally protect. But at this point my next question is, why register? What is registration? How does that protect your branding efforts? Registering a trade mark means going through the formal procedures which result in your trade mark being officially recorded as belonging to your business. Registration gives you the exclusive right to use that mark and to sue someone else who uses that same mark or something similar to it on the same products or similar products.

And yes, I'll readily admit that that word "similar" and the question of "what is or is not similar" are what keep the lawyers in business. But ultimately, trade mark registration is a public legally protected version of what your branding efforts are all about - recognition and exclusivity. You want a brand which is recognised, and exclusively linked with your product. Legal protection - including through registration, helps you achieve that.

Legal Points There are legal points to be considered at two different stages in the brand management process. The first stage is in the process of creation of a new brand, the second is the management of existing brands, especially during company transformations. From a legal point of view, there are two main questions to ask when a new brand is being created and defined - 1. Can you use it safely? 2. Can you protect it?

These questions are, or should be, central to any brand development. Yet it is surprising how often they seem to get overlooked, especially in the rush of enthusiasm for some new concept. "Can you use" can be rephrased as "are we going to step on anyone else's toes with this new brand, angle, packaging line, strategy?" This question in itself can rise in two rather different ways: the branding task when you are truly attempting to create a unique, distinctive brand to do what brands are supposed to do, ie. make your product stand out and create a clear position in the market the somewhat different issue when your aim is in fact to latch on to someone else's success. Naturally, from a legal point of view, the second objective is the more risky..