What You Need to Know About Trademarks

Once you have trademarked your identity, your company has the right to prevent others from using a trademark this is similar or confusing. That means that no one can use a trademark that can be confused with yours. This protects your company identity, reputation, and market share. The term of a trademark is 20 years.

Trademark protection can be obtained two ways. First, trademark protection is available for inexpensive registration in most states. Contact your state?s secretary of state to find out the procedure for registering your trademark in the state where your business operates. Secondly, trademark protection can be obtained from the federal government for approximately $335. This can be done online at the website for the United States Patent and Trademark Office website www.uspto.gov. The forms can all be completed and submitted online.

Only certain words or symbols can be protected as trademarks. The word or symbol must identify your company as the creator of the product or service with which the trademark is used. You cannot trademark a word that is commonly used to describe your product or service. For example, you cann trademark the word ?consultant? if you are a consultant. You can, however, trademark the name of your consulting company.

Colors, sounds, scents, and packaging can be protected as trademarks. To be trademarked, those items must be shown to be associated with the particular product or service that your company sells. It must identify and distinguish your product or service. The design and appearance of products and their packaging or labeling can be trademarked.

Before you can obtain a trademark, you must search the website to determine that no other company has trademarked the same or similar item. The first company to obtain trademark rights owns the trademark, and the can sue another other company that uses their trademarked item. Before obtaining a trademark, you may also want to find out if you can use that item in your domain name so that you will have the same identifier online.

While your trademark application is pending, you should use TM on the item. Once you have trademark protection, you should use the ?circled R? symbol to put the public on notice that you own the item. Trademark protection may also be available internationally, but you will have to trademark in each individual country where your product will be sold. Before you apply for a trademark in another country, be sure the country will enforce your exclusive right to use the trademarked item. If you register your trademark on the internet as a domain name, you will have trademark protection.

Trademark protection is important and it is valuable. If another company uses your company?s trademark, it can divert business away from your company. It may also damage your company?s reputation if the other company has shabby operating procedures. The estimated value of counterfeit goods in the U.S. is approximately $250 billion, so be proactive in protecting your company?s trademark.

Jo Ann Joy is the CEO and owner of Indigo Business Solutions, a legal and business consulting firm. Indigo Business Solutions is a ?one stop shop? for small businesses, because we offer both legal and business services. We can provide all the professional services that a business requires, and they won't have to be "referred out" and pay another professional.

Jo Ann has a law degree, an MBA, and a degree in Economics. She is a strategic business attorney who works closely with clients to greatly improve their chance of success. Her background includes commercial, corporate, contract and real estate law, and she has experience in accounting, financial planning, mortgages, marketing, product development, banking, and business planning and strategies. She ran a successful business for 10 years, and she has written and given presentations on many different legal and business subjects.

If you have questions about legal, business or tax topics, please visit our website http://www.IndigoBusinessSolutions.net Phone: 602-663-7007; Fax: 602-324-7582.

Intellectual Property - Trade Mark Infringement - Figurative Community Trademark

In the case of Sportwetten GmbH Gera v the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (?OHIM?) (2005), it was held that the registration of a Community trade mark was not contrary to public policy or public morality.

On 11 January 1999, OHIM published a figurative mark incorporating the word INTERTOPS in respect of Class 42: bookmakers and betting services of all kinds.

Sportwetten GmbH was the proprietor of the trade mark INTERTOPS SPORTWETTEN, registered in Germany in respect of the same types of services.

On 17 May 1999, Sportwetten lodged an application for a declaration of invalidity concerning the INTERTOPS registration. The application was rejected by OHIM and Sportwetten appealed to the Court of First Instance.

Sportwetten contended that:

▪ registration infringed Article 51 of Regulation No 40/94 read together with Article 7 (1) (f) and (2) because the proprietor was not licensed to offer or advertise in Germany the services in respect of which the mark had been registered; and ▪ the INTERTOPS trade mark was contrary to public policy or to accepted principles in Germany and other Member States.

The Court of First Instance dismissed the appeal and confirmed that:

▪ it is the trade mark itself, not the circumstances relating to the conduct of the person applying for registration, that is to be assessed in order to determine whether the mark is contrary to public policy or accepted standards of morality for the purpose of Article 7; ▪ consequently the fact that the INTERTOPS proprietor was prohibited from offering betting services in Germany did not have the effect of rendering the trade mark itself contrary to public policy or principles of morality; and ▪ therefore there was no grounds for which the decision should be annulled and therefore the application for a declaration of invalidity was denied.

If you require further information contact us at enquiries@rtcoopers.com or Visit http://www.rtcoopersiplaw.com or http://www.rtcoopers.com/practice_intellectualproperty.php

? RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

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