Trademarks are types of legal rights available for use by people and organizations to distinguish their own personal brands, names, logos, and even slogans from others’ copyrights. Trademarks are considered property rights that give the owner exclusive rights to the use of the mark in the market place. There are various different types of Trademarks. A trademark is just a kind of legal property consisting of an easily identifiable symbol, design, or symbol that identifies particular products or services of an original source from others, but trademarks normally employed to identify specific services or products are commonly known as service marks. When looking to register your business name, logo, and/or slogan with the Intellectual Property Office, it is best to get help from an IP office.
Registering your trademark with the IP office; will help protect your brand name and logo from being copied by third parties. In Australia, registering a trademark ensures that you own the rights to your trademark, so that no one can use it illegally. If your trademark is registered, then the register of the trademark includes the names and addresses of all the parties to the transaction, and it provides details of the process involved in applying for the registration, as well as the relevant statutory tests required. Additionally, a trademark gives the public notice of the registration and the legal description of the marks.
- As part of the process to apply for a trademark or a registered logo, there is generally a drafting process, and the final examination is often by the Patent and Trade Marks Office (PTO).
- The main purpose of this examination process is to ensure that the application meets the requirements for registration as well as whether there are any exceptions to the rights granted to you as the owner of the trademark or registered trademark.
- As in any trade mark application, there are some requirements that have to be met before the trademark application can proceed.
- Before you can apply for a trademark or a registered logo, there are a number of conditions that have to be fulfilled. For example, if you wish to register the symbol intellectual property, you need to demonstrate to the Office that the product or service you intend to market, or the information associated with the product or service has some commercial value.
If you do not meet these conditions; then you will not be able to register the symbol or trademark. One of the conditions that you will need to fulfil is that you need to disclose to the patent and Trademark Office, in writing, the details of any significant changes that you would make to the description of the goods or services that you are intending to market if you did register the mark or logo. If you are registering a symbol or a trade mark, then it is possible that you may need to include an indication about the origin of the mark or the information associated with the mark, for instance, the company that makes the product or the services associated with the mark.
There is also a limitation in relation to the location of the trade mark or the trademark; Only US patents and Trademarks may be registered at the Patent and Trademark Office in Washington DC, that is, in the state of the owner’s residence. A foreign national must apply for a US trademark in the state where they are established, but this is often overlooked. Therefore, unless the applicant for the mark or logo is a resident of the state, they are unable to obtain protection by applying directly to the US Patent and Trademark Office.
It is important to remember that it is unlawful; to use a symbol or a mark that is confusingly similar to a trademark. There are a number of other infringements which are considered less serious than using confusingly similar symbols or marks. For example, you can use a trademark to illegally promote your own business. You could also use a symbol or a mark that is confusingly similar to your brand name, but you can still legally register the mark or logo. The most important thing to remember when filing a TRADEMARK application is that you must be certain that what you are submitting to the United States Patent and Trademark Office is legally correct and legally acceptable.