Unless you own a Registered Trademark, your idea, concept, and unique branding can freely be stolen by your competitors in the present fast-paced society, which is indeed something you would never want to happen. After you spend all the time, effort, and money on your unique and creative branding, it becomes convenient for other businesses to copy what initially belongs to you. Therefore, without any second thoughts, small businesses do need to have a registered trademark like any other type and size of business out there.
Small businesses and startups with tight profit margins quite often overlook the utmost importance of protecting their most valuable asset, i.e., trademarks. Small business owners must know and understand well the following aspects:
- What is a trademark?
- Why is trademark a valuable form of Intellectual Property (IP)?
- What is the difference between a registered and unregistered trademark?
- Why is there a need to go ahead with Trademark Registration?
What exactly is a Trademark?
A trademark refers to any word, phrase, symbol, logo, or their combination that enables the customers in the market to know about the source of a product or service. A trademark is a company, product, or brand name. For instance, Coca Cola is a widely known trademark for cola products.
Trademarks are different from a patent and copyright, which are the other exclusive forms of IP. When it comes to copyright, it prevents the artistic and creative works, like music recordings, novels, etc. from being used, copied, stolen, or distributed without the permission of the owner. A patent protects the novel, useful, and non-obvious inventions, like a hybrid engine, a new microprocessor, etc. from being used by the competitors.
There are undoubtedly many good reasons explaining why every small business needs to have a registered trademark; let’s have a look at them:
- Official Trademark Registration
Keeping aside the size and type of your business, you need to make sure that you have a registered trademark in place for your small business, which shall help you significantly in preventing and facing critical issues in the future. It is a matter of fact that yes – trademark litigation lawsuits are both complicated and expensive, which can further deplete resources, effort, and time. Hence, if you are not willing to go through the hassle and stress down the road, you need to start considering the scope of getting a registered trademark for your small business.
- Brand Identity Protection
If you wish to protect your brand identity, you must own a trademark for your small business as you can then use the same on any concept or packaging solely or exclusively that you create for your brand. Following are a few points explaining the benefits of having a registered trademark for brand identity protection:
- A trademark helps a business in gaining instant brand recognition.
- A trademark becomes the core foundation and image of a business.
- A trademark offers a massive degree of protection against reputation-damaging copycats.
- A trademark stops the arch-competitors from making unauthorized use of a brand’s identity.
- Trademark Designation
The registered trademark designation helps in notifying the other businesses out there about the Trademark Rights associated with a small business’ brand name, logo, or symbol. If you own a small business and have a registered trademark for the same, it implies that your competitors can’t steal your brand identity, which is a result of your sheer hard work and brand building. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com
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