By P. Kandiah
Have you ever wondered whether plain alphabets can function as trademarks for goods or for services?
Well, the quick answer is YES. A single letter alphabet can function as a trademark provided it is stylised and is made distinctive.
Such a mark can be registered as a trademark. Let’s look at some well-known single letter trademarks:
The Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts Group has adopted a stylised alphabet “S” as its trademark for its hotels and hospitality services.
Suzuki Motor Corporation has also adopted the alphabet “S” for its motor vehicles.
Another age-old company Singer Corporation has been using the alphabet “S’ as its trademark for its sewing machines.
What is important to note is that the registration of the alphabet does not give exclusivity to use the alphabet to the registered owner. The registration only gives the owner exclusivity to use the alphabet in the distinctive stylised form as registered, while allowing other traders to use even the same alphabet in a different stylised form.
Let’s look at some other single letter trademarks.
Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan has adopted the stylised version of the letter “T” as its trademark for its motor vehicles.
Another motor company Tata Motors Limited of India also uses the alphabet “T” as its trademark for its motor vehicles.
Mazda Motor Corporation of Japan uses the letter “M” in a stylised version as its trademark for motor vehicles.
Similarly, Honda Motor Company, Limited and Hyundai Motors both use the letter ’H” in a different stylised form as their respective trademarks for motor vehicles.
As emphasised earlier, any trader is free to use any alphabet as its trademark for goods and for services but the proposed trademark must not be deceptively or confusingly similar to the earlier registered single alphabet trademark.
Another issue to note is that if the stylised alphabet is original in nature and sufficient efforts have been made to create the artwork subsisting within the trademark, that artwork may also be entitled for copyright (the type of intellectual property rights that protects artistic work).
Can you recall any other well-known single alphabet used as a trademark? Is it mostly brands of motor vehicles that select alphabets to represent them as a trademark? Go on, look at the brands existing around you on a daily basis and spot the ones with single alphabet marks! Share them with us at kass@kass.asia. We’d be happy to hear from you.
Disclaimer: The trademarks represented above are the intellectual property rights of their respective owners and KASS makes no claim whatsoever to the marks. The marks are used for educational purposes only.
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