Trademarks and Copyright are everywhere in business. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or who you work for; there will likely be a trademark or Copyright that is present.
A trademark is a word, symbol, phrase, or any kind of design that makes a business recognizable.
Think of the McDonald’s golden arches; that logo represents the business and allows them to be easily distinguishable from other competitors. McDonald’s has that recognizable symbol trademarked.
Suppose anyone else were to use that design or something remotely similar, they could seek some sort of compensation, as could any other business that has had their trademarked slogan, symbol, etc., copied.
Compensation is there to cover any loss of earnings that may have occurred, as perhaps consumers are going to a particular place thinking it’s a specific brand, but it’s not.
Still, the compensation also covers any tarnish that may have occurred to the trademarked companies’ reputation.
After all, if someone is fraudulently acting as a particular company and misbehaving, that could deter people from going to the legitimized company.
Plus, any company can seek legal action if someone else were to use their trademark to make them stop using it.
When filing for a trademark, the process is pretty easy; however, you must ensure that what you’re trademarking is nothing like anything that has already been trademarked. Otherwise, you could be considered the fraudulent party.
However, once your trademark has been filed and registered, it’ll then last forever.
There’s no need to keep updating or reapplying for your trademark. If you wish to change it, you can do so also.
If you have a logo, slogan, symbol, or anything that you want sole ownership of and use, you will undoubtedly need a trademark.
Not only does it give you peace of mind that no other businesses can look like yours, but your business will be far more recognizable with distinct branding.
If you don’t already have a trademark, speak to a professional at Cohen Schneider Law PC and seek some advice.
Protecting yourself and your business is better than doing nothing. A Copyright is slightly different from a trademark.
Instead of protecting an identifying mark, it protects original work created by someone or a business.
From best-selling books to songs you hear on the radio, computer software, or movies, anything written can be copyrighted.
This protects that work from being reused by anyone else or sold off as their own. For example, a musician may spend 100 hours recording a new song.
They spend a lot of money hiring producers, managers, and even a recording studio to create the song and put in a lot of other resources.
When they release that song, they will Copyright it so that if you want to use it, not just listen to it, perhaps for a video or movie, you need to get permission and often pay for the use.
This means that singer has sole ownership over the work they have created and without their consent, you cannot use it for any reason.
However, a Copyright does not last forever so it’s important to check how long each individual Copyright is for.
If your business creates anything, whether it be a software system of some sort to help you manage clients, or perhaps you write bespoke literature and poems, copywriting those crafts is essential so that others cannot pass it off as their own or use it without your consent.
Imagine you craft a unique database for clients, and then suddenly everyone else in your area was doing the same, you may lose your competitive edge, which could ultimately damage your business and result in a loss of income.
A copyright protects that from happening, and if it were to happen, you could take legal action and again seek compensation and stop anyone using your work.
These trademarks and Copyright laws are set out to help businesses protect what’s rightfully theirs.