A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights.
At the national/regional level, trademark protection can be obtained through registration, by filing an application for registration with the national/regional trademark office and paying the required fees. At the international level, you have two options: either you can file a trademark application with the trademark office of each country in which you are seeking protection, or you can use WIPO’s Madrid System.
In principle, a trademark registration will confer an exclusive right to the use of the registered trademark. This implies that the trademark can be exclusively used by its owner, or licensed to another party for use in return for payment. Registration provides legal certainty and reinforces the position of the right holder, for example, in case of litigation.
The term of trademark registration can vary, but is usually ten years. It can be renewed indefinitely on payment of additional fees. Trademark rights are private rights and protection is enforced through court orders.
A word or a combination of words, letters, and numerals can perfectly constitute a trademark. But trademarks may also consist of drawings, symbols, three-dimensional features such as the shape and packaging of goods, non-visible signs such as sounds or fragrances, or color shades used as distinguishing features – the possibilities are almost limitless.
Featured  Collective MarksUsing a collective mark enables producers in rural areas to add value to their local products by working together.
From a trip to the shopping mall to an hour in front of the TV, we encounter trademarks at every turn. They are an indispensable tool in today's business world.
Trademarks, including service marks, are particularly important in the globalized tourism sector and are key to its further development.
A successful marketing effort depends on trademark lawyers and marketers being on the same page.
Where similar/identical trademarks exist, coexistence agreements can be a mutually-beneficial solution to the problem.
The treaties WIPO administers, together with national and regional laws, make up the international legal framework for trademarks.
These Joint Recommendations respond to trends and developments in international trademark law:
Reference documents
The WIPO Lex database is a comprehensive search tool that allows you to search international treaties and national laws on intellectual property.
The Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) is the forum where WIPO's member states discuss policy and legal issues relating to the international development of trademark law and standards. Latest meetings
The Madrid system for the international registration of trademarks provides a single procedure for the registration of a mark in several territories. In a nutshell, you benefit from one application, in one language, paid in one currency.
Our Global Brand Database provides easy access to over 28 million records from multiple international and national sources, including marks registered through WIPO’s Madrid System. Use the database to search for trademarks, appellations of origin and official emblems.
The Nice Classification is an international system used to classify goods and services for the purposes of the registration of marks.
From Champagne to Habanos cigars, the unique geographical characteristics of a product can be key for branding. The Lisbon System for the international registration of appellations of origin protects such products through a single registration.
Article 6ter is used to protect armorial bearings, flags and other state emblems of the states party to the Paris Convention.
The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center provides trademark owners with efficient international mechanisms to deal with disputes over Internet domain names corresponding to their trademark rights.
If you are a business owner, you should familiarize yourself with the four types of intellectual property, otherwise known as IP. We speak with many entrepreneurs who don’t know where to begin when it comes to protecting their ideas and inventions. They need this information frequently so we decided to create a quick and easy guide to educate them. It was popular so we decided to post it to our blog. Let us know if you found this useful and if there are any other guides you would like us to make in the comment section below.
If you feel you need to speak with a lawyer directly, call Spence PC directly at 1-312-404-8882.
When your business is young, it is at risk of having its ideas “borrowed” by competitors. Protect yourself, your business, and your ideas by following this guide.
What are Copyrights? According to Copyright.Gov ‘s Guide to copyrights, “Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S.Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,”” Copyrights protect writing, pictures, music, art, and other forms of intellectual works. What this means for you is that if you wrote something, or created a piece of work that you don’t want people to reuse without your permission, you have the right to copyright that work. Now, if people want to use, reuse, or re purpose your work, they must first contact you to use it, attribute you as the owner, and use it for purposes you deem appropriate. There is an exception to this rule, that is, Fair Use. If someone wants to use a portion of your work for educational, parody, commenting, or news purposes they can.
Take away : Make sure you copyright your work and your website while providing people a way to contact you so they can use your work with your permission. Click the link for Copyright.Gov’s frequently asked questions to learn how to copyright your work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKTNtqaSTrY
What are Patents? According to the United States Patent Office , “A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor”. Generally this patent lasts for 20 years from when the inventor attempts to patent their invention by filing with the US Government. The list of things that can patented is fairly lengthy and open to interpretation but it covers anyone who “invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,”.
For a business owner or an inventor this means that if you found a new way to make something or discovered a new product you’d like to take to market, you would want to first patent the idea so no one can take the idea and claim it as their own. For instance, if you have a revolutionary water bottle that you feel would benefit the masses, you should protect this intellectual property by filing with patent office that the idea is unique and your own. If the government agrees that the idea is your own, unique, and is useful you will be awarded a patent to protect your right to the concept. This then gives you the ability to produce the concept, sell it, or bring the concept to investors without worrying about them stealing your ideas.
However, a word of caution, if you share your patented ideas, there is a risk that others will reverse engineer your concept. Reverse engineering is when competitors take apart an object or idea to understand how it functions with the goal of enhancing or modifying the object in order to replicate it. Making enough variations to the original concept can result in a ‘unique’ idea that your competitors can then patent as their own idea. Companies can avoid compensating you for your patent idea and claim these ‘new’ versions of your idea as their own. This frequently happens in the technology industry between companies like Samsung and Apple.
Take away: Protect your ideas and inventions with patents before sharing them with the world.
What are Trademarks? According to the USPTO , a Trademark is a “word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination thereof, that
Words, phrases, and pictures are generally the most common intellectual properties to be trademarked, however other distinguishing features can also be registered for your company. For example, Coca-Cola bottles’ have a trademarked shape, Dell and Ford have trademarked their family names, and even smells. These are known as non-conventional trademarks but are used in every industry to protect IP. It is important to protect these business assets, as trademarks give business owners the tools to prevent competitors from taking advantage of the goodwill that one’s brand has accumulated over the years.
If you feel that you have been the victim of copyright or trademark infringement, an unregistered trademark provides limited protection.
Take Away: It is best to register trademark s at your local and national government office responsible for trademark registration. Remember, a registered trademark must be renewed regularly to keep it “alive” and to protect your IP.
What are Trade Secrets? Generally, any piece of confidential corporate information which gives any business a competitive advantage can be considered a trade secret. For instance, Coca-Cola’s secret formula could be considered a trade secret. Now, if I created a soda company and produced identical soda to coca-cola, this would be an infringement of Coke’s trade secret. This is a general example but trade secrets can even defined as distribution methods (Walmart), Sales methods, consumer information, ad campaigns and strategies, list of vendors, list of clients, and production processes. Generally, trade secrets are leaked through corporate (industrial) espionage, breach of contract, or something as simple as leaving your prototype iPhone at a bar.
A trade secret must be designated as such before it is leaked. One cannot simply say “I have a secret”. Use Nondisclosure agreements and designate information as trade secrets in contracts when dealing with partner companies and employees. There are other ways to designate information as a trade secret, to learn more, you should contact Spence-PC.
Take Away: Protect your trade secrets. Keep employees on a need to know basis. If you’re letting an employee go, make sure they don’t have access to your client files after they have been terminated. To learn more about protecting your company and your trade secrets from corporate espionage check out this article from Inc. |
A form of business in which one owner uses the model, methods and trademarks of another is a
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