BUSINESS - MARK

Trademark

 

A trademark is a way for a business to help people to identify the products that the business makes from products made by another business and is a visual symbol which may be a name, word signature, phrase, symbol, logo, device, label, design, picture, numerals or combination of colours used by one undertaking on goods or services or other articles of commerce to distinguish it from other similar goods or services originating from a different undertaking. It can only be used on things made by the business that owns the trademark.

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than goods. Examples include brand names, slogans, and logos. (The term “trademark” is often used in a general sense to refer to both trademarks and service marks.) Similar to copyright, a person does not need not register a trademark or service mark to receive protection rights, but there are certain legal benefits to registering the mark with the USPTO. There is rarely an overlap between trademark and copyright law but it can happen — for instance, when a graphic illustration is used as a logo the design may be protected both under copyright and trademark.

For example, Coca-Cola and Coke are trademark names for a certain drink made by the Coca-Cola Company. No other business can use these names or any names similar to them. Other businesses can make a drink that is similar, like colas soft drinks, but they have to use a different name for their drink, such as Pepsi.