By: Chris Heer
Trademarks are key brand assets for every business. Your customers associate them with your company and its reputation and they help distinguish your products and services from your competitors in a crowded marketplace.
For startups, it’s important to establish and protect your trademarks right from the beginning. Otherwise, you risk major headaches down the road.
Here are five things new business owners need to know about trademarks.
1. Your Company Name Is Not Automatically Your Trademark
In the process of incorporating your business, you were probably required to register a corporate name under which you would be doing business.
A corporate name approved as part of the incorporation process allows your company to operate a business using that name within the province or territory registered, or across the country, if registered under federal legislation.
If your corporate name is not identical to the name of your business as it appears to your customers, you would have also needed to register the latter as a “business” or “trade” name.
Note that neither of these registrations relates to the use of your name as a trademark. To claim an exclusive right to the use of your name as a trademark, you will need to file an application to register your mark with the intellectual property office in the jurisdictions in which you do business.
2. Registration is Important
For some startup companies, trademark registration may not initially be seen as a top priority. Having not yet acquired a reputation to protect, and having limited financial resources, companies may be reluctant to incur the expense. If you’ve done research, you may think you can rely on the common law to protect your mark.
Read more >> https://startup.unitelvoice.com/trademarks
