Protecting Your Brand

You’ve done the work—partnered with a great agency, researched brand perceptions, received employee feedback, conducted focus groups, and created a brand based on the results—so now what? You didn’t do all that just to have some upstart come in and commandeer your brand—you have to protect it.

The most common ways of shouting to the world that your brand really belongs to you are Trademarks, Service Marks, and Copyrights. So what’s the difference between the three?

Let’s start with Trademarks and Service Marks since those cause the most confusion. Trademarks—which are identified by the small ™ or ® to the right of the mark—are used on products to identify the source of that product and distinguish one manufacturer’s product from another. So, for example, when you come home from shopping you know for sure that you purchased shoes made by Nike®, jeans made by Levi’s®, and a hamburger made by McDonalds®.

Service Marks—which are identified by the small sm or ® to the right of the mark—are the kissing cousins of Trademarks. Instead of distinguishing a manufacturer’s products, Service Marks help distinguish services and events.
For example, Kinko’s® (photocopying service), Express Checkout^sm (offered by Barnes and Noble), and Blockbuster® (video rental service) are all examples of Service Marks. In general, Trademarks are found on packaging and products while Service Marks are found on advertisements, signs, and any other marketing material on which a business uses its name to market its goods and/or services.

Using the tm and sm symbols to protect your marks gives you common law rights to those marks. Although there is some protection value in having common law rights, enforcement of these rights is limited. The best solution is to register your mark with the United States Patent ad Trademark Office—completing that process is the only way you can legally use the ® symbol. Once your mark is registered, you’ll have the documentation you’ll need to fight any legal battles should someone try to use your marks. 

Copyrights are a little more cut and dry. Once someone creates intellectual property (such as artwork, copy, architectural renderings, music, etc.), it is Copyrighted. Only the creator or someone who has purchased or inherited
rights may claim a Copyright. Take for example this article. If for some reason
you wanted to copy this article and claim it as your own, you could be taken to court because it was created and copyrighted by Bouchard Marketing. Again,
it’s important to register your copyright in order to obtain the documentation you need to fight any legal battles that may arise.

It is important to take all the steps necessary to correctly mark your brand and its related components. Bouchard Marketing is your full-service branding partner and can help you with all the necessary registration steps for your marks once your brand is determined. For more information about Copyrights, Trademarks and Service Marks visit the United States Patent and Trademark office Web site at www.uspto.gov.