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Written by : Jack Neonakis |
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he Forks today we're going to be talking about trademarking and specifically trademark symbols it sounds like it's going to be a bit boring well you could be right there but this is important you should know about trademarking when it comes to your brand and your logo so let's make a star and let me take you through each of the three main symbols so the first is the TM symbol sometimes known as the common law mark the TM symbol is used to make people aware that you are claiming rights on your trademark unlike a registered trademark which we'll discuss later on in this video a common law trademark can be harder to protect and that's because there's no public record of when the trademark was first used next up is the SM symbol now this isn't as commonly used as the TM symbol but it stands for service mark so if your brand offers services such as banking or legal or even design services you should be using the SM mark the TM symbol is much more widely recognized though and so I would suggest that you use the TM symbol over and above the SM one next up is the R symbol unlike the previous two symbols the TM and the SM the R represents an officially registered trademark you may only use the R symbol if you have registered your brand or your logo with an official trademark body if you go ahead and use the R symbol with unofficially trademarking then you could run into claims of fraud where you knowingly or willingly attempt to deceive or mislead consumers or try to prevent another brand from registering a mark which is similar or the same as your own if you have the budget to do so I would always say go ahead and officially register your trademark so what about when it comes to actually using the symbols on your logo worship the goal well in the mean peep we'll put the logo in the upper right-hand corner next to the logo it can also go in the lower right-hand corner or it could go inline with your logo or brand name there is no right or wrong it can actually go anywhere around your logo but you do want to have it in a sort of an unobtrusive way if you know for a fact that when you're having your logo designed you will be officially registering it let your designer know because they'll then be able to take that into account when you're creating the logo design so that the TM or the registered trademark symbol will be more balanced in the design okay so a quick recap you don't have to be using the TM or SM symbols to make common law rights claims to your trademark when it comes to the registered trademark symbol that little R in a circle you must have an officially registered trademark to use it and lastly let your designer know if registering that trademark is something you intend to do because they'll then be able to take that into account when they're sketching conceptualizing and create the final little design by knowing in advance they'll be able to incorporate that little symbol into your logo to give an overall better balanced and visual look to the final design it's at this point I should stress that trademark law is very complex you should always seek the advice of a trademark lawyer who can take you through the process and make sure that nothing is missed you don't want to go ahead and register your trademark and make a mistake so that someone challenges it you end up losing so there you have it that's a little bit more information for you on trade marking symbols not the most exciting of topics I know but it is something that you should know when it comes to branding I hope you find this video useful if you have make sure you give the video a thumbs up please leave me a comment let me know if you've actually been through the trade marking process yourself if you haven't already so scrape to the channel and make sure you click on that little bear icon to be notified whenever I release a new video and until I see you next time stay creative folks
Thanks for your comment Ralph Arciniega, have a nice day.
- Jack Neonakis, Staff Member
here's another question from Korra how and where can I register my company logo as an international trademark my name is Andre Minka from the founder of trademark Factory and here's my answer to this question the short answer is you don't there is no such thing as an international trademark trademarks are registered on a per country basis having said that there are procedures that allow you to file what's called an international application that allows you to follow one single application to get it registered in multiple countries eventually but even though there's one application in the end of the day you're gonna end up having multiple trademark registrations in all those countries where you want to register them and certainly there is no such thing as a global trademark where by filing one application you get you're gonna get your trademark registered in all countries in the world that's not gonna happen so let me elaborate on this a little bit to give you a clearer picture of what's going on with registering your trademark in multiple countries so first of all most countries in the world not all of them most of them are part of what's called the trade agreements Madrid Protocol which are two treaties - international treaties that allow business owners brand owners to protect their brands in multiple jurisdictions with less formalities than they would have had to go through had they had to file their trademarks in each country individually right that's why those treaties exist I have a more detailed video about Madrid Protocol Madrid agreement marks you can find it by searching you this channel I'm not gonna go into that in too much detail so these these two treaties allow you to file one single application and designate countries that you want to protect your brand in in those countries so the way GUI works you would start by filing a trademark a direct national application in your home country that's the way to start so you can't file an international trademark application unless you already have a pending application or registered trademark in your home country that's where it all starts and then you can file an international application assuming that your home country is a member state in either Madrid agreement or Madrid Protocol and so assuming that happens you can file your international application and that you will do through your through the trademarks office of your home country so for example if you're an American company you would start by filing a trademark in the US and then you would file the International trademark application through USPTO if you're a Canadian company you would first file your Canadian trademark through C PO and then you would file the Madrid trademark through C PO as well and when you file your international trademark application you would designate countries where you want your trademark to be protected so for example if you start with the US and you want I don't know European Union Brazil Russia China India you would just put checkmarks next to those countries and that's how it works but also make sure to know that some countries are still not part of the Madrid system I'm not gonna name them again you can find the video on this channel where I go through that list about countries that are not part of the Madrid and so those countries if you want protection there you'd have to file manually or directly in each of those countries and that's the way it works so when you've got your company logo really the question you want to ask yourself is how important are those other jurisdictions for you to have a trademark there you always start with your home country and then you look at your addictions where it's really important for you to own this brand and know that you know filing an international trademark application even though it's cheaper than filing direct trademark applications in all of those countries it's still gonna cost you a pretty penny so unless there's a very good reason for you to add certain countries don't or unless you've got your certain point in your business when you like you know is just something that we do like Apple right when you're that big even if you if a certain market is may not be the most important market for you you still protect your brand there because you're so big it really becomes an exercise of reward and risk and so as you grow you probably be adding more countries and you want to be one step ahead of everyone else so if you see potential for you becoming a globally recognized company sure make sure you trademark your brand everywhere if you're a startup and you're just trying to figure it out but you know there there might be some potential start with the most important jurisdictions right what we've discovered with our clients it's probably US Canada European Union UK was it needs European Union Australia maybe China you know some of some of the big ones some of the most important ones and then you can start editing more and more as your business develops now I hope this answers your question and I hope you got something out of this video if you did make sure you like this video if you have a question that I haven't answered yet make sure you post a comment below and I'll answer your question in a video just like this one and make sure you subscribe to make sure that you see the answer to the question that you ask and also when you subscribe keep the bell button it helps us grow the channel it helps me know that what I'm doing is actually useful and helps brand owners around the world so until then I will see you in the next video
Thanks Pissavini5 your participation is very much appreciated
- Jack Neonakis
About the author
I've studied forensic archaeology at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and I am an expert in marine chemistry. I usually feel mad. My previous job was biological technician I held this position for 10 years, I love talking about figure skating and sprouting. Huge fan of Jason Momoa I practice ski jumping and collect police memorabilia.
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