Every business has an identity that reflects its qualities and values. These might be product innovation, customer service, delivery, know-how, cost reduction, concern for the environment, whatever customers remember it for.
A successful brand also has a unique identity which is different from anything that competitors can offer. The identity of every brand is made up of a set of brand values, which are the outstanding qualities for which it is recognised.
These qualities and values are expressed through trading styles, brand names, logos, packaging and store designs, or whatever visual or aural signs link a business to its customers. They are the trade marks which a business uses, and carry with them its reputation.
Because a company’s reputation is valuable, it should protect any trade mark essential to its business. If it does not, it may risk losing a vital sales and marketing asset.
Registration is the only effective means of protecting trade marks and controlling unauthorised use or imitation by others, since:-
- Owning a prior trade mark registration or application makes it easier and cheaper to oppose someone else’s application for the same or similar mark, and more likely to be successful;
- It is an obstacle to anybody registering the same or similar mark in the UK and other countries where objections can be raised to later applications that conflict;
- It has a deterrent effect and can be publicised by use of e.g. ®, which may prevent unauthorised use or imitation in the first place;
- Action against piracy is faster and more persuasive when based on trade mark registration, as effective rights are already in place, and formal litigation may even be avoided as a result;
- Whilst legal action for passing off based on prior use of a trade mark is a possible alternative, this is generally more costly and uncertain.
Copyright can be valuable, but it cannot protect names or slogans. Moreover, it only protects against deliberate copying and not coincidental similarity. Proving ownership of copyright also tends to be more difficult and expensive than relying on trade mark registration.
Trade mark registration not only provides the protection necessary to safeguard a company’s identity or brand. It is also an enabler of brand licensing, and consequently helps in improving the generation of revenue. It can additionally assist in raising funds through e.g. securitisation, or help to support the sale of a business.
If a company does not seek trade mark registration at an early enough date, there is a danger that prior registration by someone else could prevent it expanding its business or that its marketing might even be halted altogether.
