How to Protect Your Brand Name and Logo in Athirampally, Thrissur



We will help you to get your brand name and logo protected with tardemark registration, patent registration, copyright registration, design registration in Athirampally, Thrissur.

Your business begins with a name. It's the cornerstone of your company identity and impacts your branding, company tone, and first impressions. Think about it.

Your business's name means a lot. It identifies your brand. It signifies your reputation. And it's how your loyal customers know you.

But when a competitor sets up a business with a name that's similar or identical to yours, your customers can become confused, you can lose business, and your reputation may suffer.

To be eligible for protection as a trademark, your business name must meet two criteria: it must be distinctive and it must not create a likelihood of confusion with other registered trademarks. You acquire a trademark in a business name by simply using it, but you can obtain much stronger protection by registering your name with Trademark Office.

Registration provides nationwide trademark protection, prevents others from registering a similar trademark, and creates an official record that can help deter other businesses from choosing a name similar to yours.

Not every business name can be trademarked. Generic or descriptive names are not eligible for trademark protection, so if your business is named "Fort Lauderdale Beach Rentals" or "Quality Carpet Cleaning," you won't be able to register a trademark and it will be difficult to use trademark laws to prevent others from using your name.

There are various types of intellectual property, each with its own legal method for protecting it:

1. Patent law concerns the protection of mental creations such as inventions. Patentable creations included zippers, drugs, Velcro, even the various Ronco devices sold on late night infomercials.

2. Copyright law gives protection to the creations of authors, composers, artists and computer programmers, among others, and covers books, music, speeches, magazines, newspapers, films, plays, songs, art, software, websites, and more.

3. Trade secret law protects confidential business information such as recipes, manufacturing processes, magic tricks, and medical and perfume formulations.

4. Trademark law protects brand names, designs, logos, sounds and so forth that are associated with certain products or services. For instance, the name "Xerox" refers to a brand of photocopiers, the name "Blockbuster" is a trade name for a video rental service, and the design of an apple used by the Apple computer brand is a logo, all of which are protected by trademark law.

Generally, the steps you'll need to take to trademark your business name include the following:

1. Do a trade name search on the Trademark Office website to make sure it's not too similar to an existing trade name.

2. Complete and file (in paper or online) with Trademark Office either an "Intent to Use Application" or an "Application for Mark in Use," depending on whether you've begun using the trade name yet.

3. Use the trade name in commerce as required.

4. Await action by the Trademark Office. They'll contact you and advise you whether a patent or trademark already exists and whether your application was correctly filed.

5. Upon acceptance of your application, your trade name will be published in the Official Gazette of the Patent and Trademark Office, publicizing the fact that you've been granted a trademark.

6. Protect your trade name by timely renewals of your trademark for that name, consistently use the designations "TM" or "R" immediately following each use of your trade name to give notice of your registration, and stop infringers from using your name by sending the abuser a cease-and-desist letter and filing suit, if necessary.

Why do you need to protect your logo?

Ask yourself: how valuable is your product or service brand to you? If it is worth selling, it is worth stealing, and it CAN happen to you. A trademark registration is a little like an insurance policy which will help you if you are unlucky enough to be copied by a third party. It will help you stop such a third party without the need for lengthy, expensive legal battles.

As an aside, if your mark is highly creative it may qualify for copyright protection in the India. However, this will only protect you if you can demonstrate that there has been copying, that you own the logo to start with and that your logo predates the copy.

If your logo is valuable to you, I strongly recommend that you consider registering it as a trade mark.

Use an attorney, or do it yourself?

You can, of course, register your trademarks yourself online. If you have a very distinctive mark, and you have carried out all of the appropriate searches, and found nothing of concern then go ahead - you should be ok.

One word of warning: this is a legal process, and if you start the process and hit a problem it may cost you more in the long run than if you had sought advice from an attorney in the first place. This is particularly true if you are filing a community trademark.

At the very least, I would consider consulting a trademark attorney before filing any application yourself, most will offer you a free consultation.



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