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Trademark and types of trademark
by Diane Brown
Category : Legal |
Trademark are a word, name, symbol or device which is used in the trading of goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of other manufacturers. Trademarks give a company exclusive right for the use of a mark. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark.
You can trademark many things. You could never trademark a blackberry. The word is simply too common and does not distinguish your blackberry from anyone else. If you programmed application software, however, and called it blackberry, you can get a trademark. Why? The commonly used word is being applied to an area of commerce where it is not commonly used. It clearly distinguishes a particular type of application software from others in the business field.
A trademark is a form of intellectual property that owned by the person or business creating it. It is a legal step designed to protect consumers. The basic idea is a trademark should point to a particular product or service and only be used by the company backing those items. Trademark represents an assurance of a particular type of quality associated with the products or services provided by the company and preclude other companies from causing consumer confusion by infringing on that mark.
There are various types of trademark. There are Trademark and Service mark. They differ in a number of ways. If your name and/or logo appear on the tangible goods that you're selling, you'd be filing for a trademark. If you're selling services in connection with a name and/or logo, you'd be filing for a service mark.
Both service marks and trademarks have some limitations. When you obtain a mark, it does not extend across all possible forms of commerce. Instead, you have to indicate what class of industry, commerce or business it should apply to. Ultimately, this means a business cannot hog a particular phrase. You can register a mark in your state, nationwide, and internationally. You will get a legal presumption of ownership and the exclusive right to use the mark when a mark is registered. Registration also helps in enforcing your rights against an infringement.
You can use a famous mark in comparative advertising, for news reporting and non-commercial uses. But you cannot use a mark in a way that implies endorsement, sponsorship or appears to be “passing off” your goods or services as those of the well-known trademark owner.
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