Are a brand and a trademark the same thing?
Not exactly, although sometimes used synonymously.
So, what’s the difference?
The short answer is that a trademark is just one component of your brand.
In this article we’ll look at the distinction between a brand and a trademark and how trademarks impact your overall branding strategy.
What is your brand?
Your brand is simply your public image. Your brand reflects your business’s goodwill and incorporates how people think and feel about your business. In other words, the more people view your business in a positive light, the more valuable your brand becomes. Building a strong brand can take time and a lot of hard work. That time and effort spent building your brand should be protected from others coming along and piggybacking off those efforts. However, your brand does not inherently provide any legal protection; that is the job of trademarks.
What is a trademark?
A trademark is a type of intellectual property and provides legal protection for your brand in the marketplace. A trademark can be any word, short phrase, image, logo, sound or color that identifies the source of goods and services in the marketplace (e.g. Apple® for electronics and Nike® for apparel).
What rights does a trademark registration give you?
A trademark registration gives you, the trademark owner, the right to exclusive use in the country where the trademark is registered. For example, a U.S. trademark registration allows you exclusive use of the trademark anywhere in the United States. A trademark registration also gives you the right to prevent others from using a trademark that is too similar. Having a trademark registration also allows you to use the trademark registration symbol (®) to put the public on notice of your rights.
Why should you care about trademark registration?
Perhaps the most important reason to register a trademark is for the right to exclusive use. For a small or local business this may not be an important factor because the customers or audience are limited to a narrow geographic area. However, for any business looking to grow a national or international brand with customers or an audience expanding over a large geographic area, that exclusivity could turn that trademark into one of your most valuable assets.
As intellectual property, trademarks can be useful assets to your business and grow in value as your business grows. Intellectual property, like tangible property, can be bought and sold, licensed (like renting or leasing tangible property), and even used as collateral to secure a business loan. If a business is attempting to raise capital or is the target of a potential sale, merger, or acquisition, the lack of a trademark registration could significantly devalue your business.
A trademark registration can also help you resolve a domain name dispute. The Internet plays an important role in the global economy and a suitable domain name is often an important component of your brand. Cybersquatting is a common term used to describe a bad faith registration of a domain name closely related to a known trademark for the purpose of exploiting it for profit. Having a trademark registration can help you resolve a domain name dispute with a would-be cybersquatter without having to acquiesce to extortion.
What should you do?
Trademarks are an important part of your brand. Trademark registration, particularly for national and international businesses, should be a priority. However, timing, cost, rules and procedures associated with trademark registration are important considerations, particularly during early growth and development stages of your business. It is always a good idea to seek guidance from someone qualified to assist.