For sure every day you will see a Trademark symbol, they are basically everywhere. We see them on products like Nike or Coca-Cola, we hear them when we see a movie and the MGM lion comes up and even when we check out celebrities like Madonna. These brands that we just mentioned have certain features that are important in marketing and this is why there are protected under the trademark low.
A trademark symbol can be anything from a phrase, color, sound, sometimes even a combination of all of them that helps people to identify a certain service or good. Many people want to understand how trademarks are being used and what types of symbols should be used for a specific goal.
If you made a logo that you want your business to be represented by this means that before you send the logo in the world you need to consider how to protect the design and all the business that is behind it. This means you will have to use correctly the trademark low. All the transition from concept to operation, from design to brand is always a crucial one.
If you trademarked your brand for sure you can use a trademark symbol going forward. The more challenging part is knowing when and how to use it because sometimes it can get confusing.
What is a trademark?
A trademark protects a word, a slogan or image and logo or some combination of the two and it connects products with the maker of those products from being used by someone else.
The best way to think about it is to ask yourself how can the public recognize my company easily? Let’s look at an example of a trademark, Nike is a good one. When you see that mark on a pair of sneakers your mind instantly thinks about it being a Nike product.
If you don’t use in a smart way the symbol you might actually limit your ability to collect damages for trademark infringement. Even if this is more or less subjective, you can try this out and check the website of big brands like Microsoft or Nike, they don’t use anymore the trademark symbols they used to have not so long time ago.
Why Do Trademark Symbols Exist?
Trademark symbols help us to know that the mark that precedes a symbol is a trademark and can serve to announce others that they can’t use that particular symbol. It can also offer benefits in any potential infringement suit. So, from a legal perspective, it can be of great help especially if you had similar situations in the past and your business is growing more and more.
What does a trademark protect?
The main goal of a trademark is to help you protect your business brand identity that goes into the marketplace. Let’s use Nike also in this example. The trademarked of its curved line lets people know that the pair of shoes that they are going to buy was made by Nike.
If another company decides to sell shoes and has the same trademark symbol people for sure will think that those shoes are also made by Nike. If this happens Nike is going to lose money from the lost sales, and they will also lose the trust that customers have on this brand especially if the similar shoes are inferior in terms of quality.
If we check the law, we will see that your tm symbol is infringed upon when another company’s brand elements are similar enough to confuse consumers. Companies need to stop using any kind of similar trademark symbol.
Trademark Law
If you were wondering what trademark law, you are now having the answer. It is a form of intellectual property that gives owners or inventors protection from unauthorized use. These three primary forms of intellectual property are patents, copyrights and trademarks.
Patents protect the inventor’s creation and copyrights protect any kind of artistic work. Trademarks safeguard distinctive words, names and symbols or sounds that have been used in commerce to distinguish goods and services.
Who owns the logo trademark?
If you want to own a trademark you can do that by using the actual trademark in commerce. Logo designers are not most of the times the ones that own the trademark. Most of the times the business owners that use the trademark symbol owns the trademark.
This is something that people usually get confused about and need to understand better in order to avoid situations like this. Trademark is always owned by the person or company that is in charge of the brand, that has more equity in the ownership. In some cases, this can be even attributed to certain lead members of a brand.
How to Insert a Trademark Symbol Correctly
If you want to display a symbol it is important to use the right one. No matter if it is a ™ or ®, you have to place it on your logo. Generally speaking, it is placed on the upper right-hand side of the name, word or logo. It is important to display the symbol next to the trademark all the time, so you make sure that any competitors see it.
Placement
The trademark symbol should be used as soon as you registered it. Usually, it is requested that the symbol should be added in the upper-right hand corner or in the lower right-hand corner. It depends on your own preferences and there is no relevant info that confirms that a certain position is better than the other one.
Frequency
You don’t have to use the trademark symbol every time. In a presentation, for example, it is enough to just use it on time in the first mention. When it is to many times repeated it can get cluttered and crowded. The trademark symbol should be something discreet that doesn’t stand out too many times because you take the risk of people not taking it seriously.
PrintMaterials
If you print out just 1-2 pages, then you should use the registered trademark symbol just one time. When you have a longer material, you can use it once per page although there is no official rule that you should do this. Probably an easy way to do it is to put the mark in the header or footer if it is repeated.
Electronic Materials
When it comes to the digital aspect of using such material you should use it at least one time per web page.
Social Media
Guidelines for a trademark symbol that is going to be used on social media can be a lot more relaxed. A lot of companies only use it in their bio or username of a social media account, and some don’t use it at all. A big part of companies doesn’t use the tm sign in all of their blog post, status, tweets and so on because they think it can become too generic.
Third Party Use
When you allow a third party to take advantage of your trademarks it is important to make sure your marks are being used with proper designations. It is also recommended to check the licensee’s activities in order to guarantee that the products and services that are offered consist in the quality of your products or services.
When can a trademark be registered?
You can begin this process as soon as possible by submitting an intent-to-use application even before your business is ready to launch. It usually takes some time till the trademark symbol is registered so do it faster is going to help you more.
The Three symbols
We all know these symbols that are used with the mark ®, TM and SM. Any trademark registration in the United States Trademark Office will allow you to use the ® symbol. If your mark is not yet registered, you can use the TM or SM symbols. The difference between TM and SM is that TM can be used for both products and services while SM is used only for services.
Remember that only if you apply and obtain a trademark symbol you can start using it. The TM symbol can be considered a placeholder until you acquire a federal trademark registration.
The Trademark Symbol
This trademark symbol is used when you want to claim trademark rights for a logo, slogan that is in connection with the sales activity of a product or service.
What does the symbol TM mean?
To answer this question and understand this trademark symbol we need to think of some common law rights. A TM is used in connection with an unregistered mark that informs potential infringers that a slogan, logo or other symbols are being claimed as a trademark. This, however, doesn’t guarantee that your mark is going to be protected by the law. You can still use it even if the registration of the mark will be refused but as mentioned it will not do that much.
The Service Mark Symbol
You can compare it with the trademark symbol. Just take into account that this is used for a different purpose.
What does the symbol SM mean?
SM is quite similar to the TM symbol because it is used to provide a notice of claim for common-law rights that are used in a mark. However, if it is used in connection with a service mark like banking or legal services and not physical products.
The registered Trademark Symbol
If we talk about the trademark symbol ® you have to know that it denotes a federally registered trademark. Under federal low, nobody can use this kind of registered symbol if they haven’t acquired a federal trademark registration.
Only after you have been notified that your application has been approved and registered you can start using the trademark symbol. You can use ® only with the good and services that have been listed in the federal registration.
What does the ® mean?
This symbol is a way to prove ownership basically for the good or service you have as a company. It’s a form of legal ownership and showing the status of it by having this symbol connected.
The Difference between Trademarks and Copyrights
This is an important subject and let’s say for example that if you copyright your logo or name without a trademark you will not be fully protected from infringement. What copyrights do is that you secure your rights to it because you are the entity that created it and it is your intellectual property. However, a trademark can protect both the name and the logo when somebody wants to use them for their own purpose.
Copyright usually protects artistic work so there are quite a few reasons why having a trademark symbol that is registered is important for your company and intellectual property.
Choosing the Right Symbol – TM, SM, or ®?
TM
The TM symbol is used for common law marks and it focuses on goods or services that are not yet registered.
SM
The SM symbol is used more for common law trademarks that represent services. It’s not that popular but can still be used in a similar manner to the TM symbol.
® symbol
The ® symbol can be used for marks registered with the USPTO and this symbol can only be used when federal registration is granted.
The Logo and Trademark symbol
When does a logo become a trademark?
A trademark symbol can become a trademark if it can be recognizing easily. Logos are a good example when they appear on the packaging or the product itself and people start to recognize the company that is behind that particular logo you know that it is a trademark.
Difference Between a Logo & Trademark
The difference between a trademark symbol that is made out of slogans, designs, logos and so on and the physical mark that can be a sign, symbol or word is that a trademark needs to be unique. It has to be specifically associated with the goods or services that a company can offer in commercial trade.
One type of trademark includes the company logo, a logo can qualify as a trademark if it meets the minimum requirements that are requested. A tm logo needs to be unique and usually, the strong ones become trademarks in our society.
What do you gain by registering your logo as a trademark?
In the US you get a lot of advantages if you have your trademark registered especially when you put it into commercial use. This means that as fast as you begin to advertise your product your logo is trademarked in the face of the law.
How do You Protect a Trademark?
When you want to register a trademark symbol there are more than 40 different classification categories of goods and services that you need to deal with if you want to go till the end with the process of registering a trademark.
Choosing the correct and proper classification is important and you might consider working with an IP attorney. This is because you will find a lot of sensitive information that you can’t be sure of and the idea behind can mislead you sometimes. Having an IP attorney will help you a lot in making the classification that makes the most sense for you now and in any future situations.
In any situation is better to have an expert by your side especially when we talk about trademark registration.
Why wouldn’t you register your logo as a trademark?
For sure there are also a lot of reasons why not going for trademark registration can be an option for you depending on your situation:
– You don’t know exactly how long your business is going to last. When you apply to a trademark registration it takes at least 9 months to complete the process. You also need to pay some fees that are not cheap and if you don’t have any guidance you can lose the money already from the start.
– The trademark symbol that you want to use might change in a few years. Take into account that only the exact version that is registered will be legally protected. Actually, if you make changes you will weaken the registered trademark rights. The main idea is that if you don’t plan to continue using your logo then you probably shouldn’t be registering.
– Maybe your logo is already similar to another one that exists in another country. If you just focus on your local area, then the state registration or law should be enough of a protection for you.
Ending thoughts on the trademark symbol
When choosing a trademark symbol, you really need to be sure that you understood the full process behind it because it is quite complex, and you don’t want to run into problems when you are doing it. If you want to go big with your business in your local area or internationally it is important to consider the idea of having your own registered trademark.
By doing so you increase your brand protection and it is also going to be a cool way of differentiating yourself from your competitors. In the end, a trademark symbol is going to be a big plus especially if you want to play the long game or you are already an old brand that has grown a lot.
If you enjoyed reading this article about the trademark symbol, you should read these as well:
- What is a logo and why you need one
- What Is Creativity And The Importance Of Creative Thinking
- Logo Design Cost: A look at the logo design prices
- Logo colors and why they’re important
- Types of logos that you should master as a graphic designer
- Logo presentation: How to show the logo to your clients
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