By Nurwalfa Izin binti Abdul Aziz
Imagine this.
You have big dreams. Becoming the most successful entrepreneur in the world has been your utmost desire and you have now managed to develop the best products the world can offer. Customers will be beating down your doors to see what’s in store for them. You know that your plans will bring in fruitful profits and you are about to release your products for sale to the demanding public, when it suddenly hits you…
“Hey wait a minute… what should I NAME my products?”
“… And what should my customers CALL my products?”
A trademark, as you are well aware, is the face of your brand. It comes in various sizes, shapes, expressions, types and such. The business that you establish deserves a unique identity for the public to recognize it and refer to it. Without a trademark, the public will have difficulty in identifying the source of the products you sell.
Understanding the importance of providing an identity to your business, you will then create an epic name as your brand. However, before you officially register it at the Trademark Registry of the country of your choice, you may have several questions. One of the most frequently asked questions would be: Do I register the word, the logo, the tagline or the entire combined version?
Now, now, don’t panic. There’s always a solution to that particularly relevant question. Whether you should register your trademark consisting only the word, the logo, the tagline or the whole combination – depends entirely on the way you want to use your trademark on your products!
For instance, if you intend to use the entire mark as a whole and the logo and the words are not meant to be separated, then it is best to register your trademark as a combination of all elements. The same principle follows when you decide to use the logo and the words separately at all times, whereby you should register both elements individually. In the event that you use all the elements of your mark together at times, but also use each individual element at other times, then you may want to register them in all the versions for each way the mark is used.
The table below depicts what was explained above, featuring a classic example of a certain popular sportswear trademark:
Pursuant to the above, registering all three (3) representations of the mark will offer you the best protection. However, it is also the most expensive option, as the filing and registration costs will be triple the norm. Therefore, if you use all three (3) versions of the mark, but are looking for a less expensive option, then you can consider registering each element separately. Do note that corporations with significant asset value, such as NIKE Inc., Starbucks Coffee and Golden Arches, have poured a tremendous amount of funds into protecting their trademarks to the best of their ability. Hence, they have opted to register their marks in this manner, as it provides them the strongest protection possible.
In certain circumstances where infringement of trademark rights takes place, there is a possibility that the infringer does not use the exact same representation of your mark. The infringers may use only the word elements of your mark or the logo alone, in which case they will have a better chance to defend against your legal action for infringement in the event you have registered rights only for the combined mark. By having all elements of your mark registered, you will have options on which version you wish to utilize as the basis of your legal action.
At the end of the day, making a decision on the type of trademark representation to be registered truly depends on how you wish to use the trademark on your products and services. It is crucial to keep in mind that your trademark is one of the first impressions of your brand on consumers, and protecting the same according to the actual manner it is used is important to prevent others from adversely affecting the reputation of your business.
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