Trademarks

A trademark is anything that is used, or intended to be used, to identify the goods of one manufacturer from the goods of others. It is a brand name. Trademarks are important business tools because they allow companies to establish their product’s reputation without having to worry that an inferior product will diminish their reputation or profit by deceiving the consumer.

It is the “good will” which gives a trade-mark value and keeps the consumers interested in purchasing one manufacturer’s products over another. A trademark generally indicates the source of the goods and services, although it may also indicate that the goods or services meet the same standard of quality as all other goods or services associated with the mark.

Words, names, phrases, logos, slogans, designs, symbols, labels, shapes, smell, combinations of colors etc.and other commercial symbols used to identify products, services, or their producers in the marketplace can all be protected as trademarks, service marks, trade names or trade dress. A trade mark acts as a source indicator and refers to the origin of goods or services. A company name can be protected against the use of similar names by others. A color scheme or unique theme for a business or product packaging can be protected as trade dress.

Trade mark can either be a word mark or a device mark. A word mark essentially denotes words/letters in a non-stylized manner. On the other hand device mark comprises artistic features or unique colour combination.

Trademarks include words, names, symbols and logos. Anything that distinctly identifies your company can be a trademark, provided that it is for goods.

A service mark is very similar to a trademark, except that it is used to distinguish services in the stream of commerce. Like a trademark, a service mark can include words, names, symbols and logos. Typically, trademarks appear on the actual product or its packaging. Service marks appear mostly in advertising for the services. In this education center, when we use the term “trademark,” we generally mean both trademarks and service marks.