Trademarks Simplified: What Are They and Why Do We Need Them?

So you have a business and you have a logo, a name and a slogan that you want your clients to associate with your organisation, but have you ever thought of protecting it? You may have thought about it – how to refrain your competitors from using the same logo or name, especially if you are successful in your industry. What you are actually thinking about is called 'trademark'.

For those of you, who have already registered trademarks for your organisation, this is just a review. But for those who are not yet clear with the concept of trademarks or do not understand the trademark laws or not sure whether you can use trademarks or not, here is my attempt to clear the air.

What are trademarks? Let's get down to the very basics. Trademark is any thing that you want people to associate with your product or service. It can be a word, a phrase, a slogan, a sound, a musical interlude, a symbol, a logo, a design, your domain name, your website designs, your packaging or dressing, the uniform of your sales staff or anything that helps people remember your products or services.

Trademark laws are laws that protect your trademarks – slogan, logo, domain name or designs – as your intellectual property, somewhat like copyright and patent. You can have trademarks for your commercial ventures, but you can not have trademarks for your non-commercial or personal ventures.

You might have a product based business or you may have a service based one – you can protect all your intellectual properties with trademark laws. For products, you have the 'Product Marks' and for services, you have the 'Service Marks'.

The main idea behind having your intellectual property protected with trademark laws is to protect your competitors to steal your property and promote their businesses under the banner of your slogans or logos. It is also to protect your organisation from frauds like selling bad quality products or providing unsatisfactory services with the name of your organisation. This can bring a bad name to you and your business without even being responsible for it.