how to copyright a company logo [Detailed Response]



Last updated : Sept 22, 2022
Written by : Danny Zachter
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how to copyright a company logo

How do you put copyright on a logo?

To copyright your logo, you need to use the copyright symbol. This familiar symbol of the letter “c” contained in a circle is the universal symbol for copyright. Include the symbol or word within your logo or right next to it. To trademark your logo, you need to register it and pay a fee.

Is a logo a trademark or copyright?

Generally, logos and designs that are used as brand identities for representing businesses are protected as trademarks. As they are original artistic works that have an element of creativity, they are also protected as copyrights.

Can a logo be protected by copyright?

Can a logo be copyrighted? Yes, a logo can be both copyrighted and trademarked. A logo has a copyright as soon as it has been created, but the copyright owner can also register the logo with the U.S. Copyright Office.

How much does it cost to copyright a logo?

What Does it Cost to Trademark a Logo? The cost to trademark a logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is $275–$660 as of June 2020, plus legal fees. You can register a trademark with your state for $50-$150, but federal registration offers a great deal more legal protection.

How can I trademark my logo for free?

Can you trademark your logo for free? You can not register a trademark for free. However, what you can do is establish something known as a "common law trademark" for free. You can do this by simply opening for business.

Can someone steal my logo?

Logo theft is a violation that occurs when one party steals or uses another party's trademarked logo without their permission. This is a more specific term for trademark infringement, and can take many forms. It typically involves the theft of a trademark or a service mark.

Do I need to register my logo?

In the U.S., you don't need to register a trademark or copyright your company's logo. Once you put down the original work on paper or digital media and use it to market your business, you automatically own the rights. However, registering a trademark affords you an extra layer of protection.

Is it worth trademarking a logo?

Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds and colors and distinguish one company's goods and products from another. Trademarking a logo not only protects it from being used by other similar companies, it also protects a company from unknowingly infringing upon an existing logo.

How do I copyright my design?

  1. Verify copyright is the best form of protection for your design.
  2. Prepare a copy of the design to be submitted electronically or mailed to the U.S. Copyright Office.

How can I protect my logo from being copied?

If you want to protect your brand identity you have to register a trademark for your company name, logos, and slogans. By using the trademark symbol, you notify other people that products they use are your property. In order to prevent unauthorized use of your mark by third parties, you have to choose a strong one.

What is the difference between copyright and trademark?

Copyrights primarily protect the rights of people who create literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works (like history tests, and software code). Trademarks protect the use of a company's name and its product names, brand identity (like logos) and slogans.

How long does copyright last?

As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

How do I trademark my logo myself?

  1. Complete a trademark search.
  2. Secure your rights.
  3. Submit an initial application at uspto.gov on the Trademark Electronic Application System or TEAS.
  4. Fill out the TEAS form for an initial application. Be sure to upload the file of your logo.
  5. Submit an "intent-to-use" form.
  6. Pay the fees.

Can I apply for a trademark myself?

So, an individual can file for the registration of his trademark himself. The application can be filed online through the e-filing gateway available at the official website or in writing with the Indian Trademark Office (TMO).

Can I sue if someone uses my logo?

Any time your company uses a logo to identify its products or services, you establish common-law trademark rights. Common-law trademark rights may allow you to sue a competitor to prevent it from using your logo, particularly if it is in a way that attempts to portray itself as your company to consumers.

How long does it take to copyright a logo?

Usually, the process takes 12 to 18 months. Registering your trademark is a complex procedure that involves your application moving through various stages. Learning about each stage in the process will help you understand why getting a trademark takes as long as it does.

Can two companies have similar logos?

Yes, both companies can USE the same trademark to brand the two companies but only ONE company can own that trademark.

Should I trademark my logo or name?

Which One Should I Trademark? It depends. Higher value tends to lie in name recognition rather than familiarity of a logo. Since logos change more often than names, it usually makes more sense to register a standard character mark to protect the business moniker itself.

What happens if I don't trademark my logo?

If you do not register your trademark, you will have legal rights only within the geographic areas where you operate. This means you may be able to stop a subsequent user of the mark, even if it is a bigger company, from using the mark in your geographic area only.

Do I need a logo for my LLC?

In short, the answer is no. In fact, none of your branding/marketing needs to include “LLC,” “Inc.” or “Ltd.” If it is included, this may look amateur. Think of national brands such as Target, Starbucks, and Honda.


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how to copyright a company logo


Comment by Viki Caamano

he folks today we're going to be discussing the differences between copyright and Trademark just a quick disclaimer to say that I am NOT an IP professional if you do require intellectual property advice please do seek out professional help so what is copyright copyright is there to protect your original creative works you can't copyright an idea you can copyright things like literary work dramatic works Musical and artistic work as long as they are in a tangible form what do I mean by a tangible form well things like books film recordings websites software photography paintings or graphic design elements like business cards or brochures having the copyright then gives you the exclusive rights to perform distribute make copies of or even make adaptations of your original creative work here in the UK there is no requirement to register your copyright it just happens automatically as soon as the work is created this may be different in your location so please check with your local Copyright Office or intellectual property office to get the full facts on how copyright is assigned in your country protection on copyright generally lasts for the lifetime of the author Plus 70 years again this may be different in your country so please check once you have created your work and the copyright is assigned you then have permission to use that little copyright symbol the little C inside the circle along with the year that the work was created however there is no requirement to use that little C symbol the copyright still remains with you at all times so let's move on to registered marks there are two types of registered marks and both of these can be used to protect the sale of products or services for a business the first is the trademark which is used to protect goods or products and the second is a service mark which you would use to protect services that you provide generally though people tend to use the town trademark to cover both our trademark and the service mark for the purpose of this video I will be using the term registered mark which covers both examples of things that can be covered by a registered mark would be a company name a slogan a sound a color under logo once you have that registered mark you have the exclusive rights to use that mark with your product or service it allows you to stop other companies businesses or organizations from using a similar mark to promote or sell a similar product or service what you can't do is you can't prevent someone from using a similar mark if they are using it to promote or sell a dissimilar product or service let's look at this example of two locals one for Sun Microsystems and the other for Columbia Sportswear now visually these two logos are very similar especially if they were both in black for example and you just had a quick glance at the logos the reason that both of these similar logos can exist and be registered as marks is that there are two completely different industries Sun Microsystems is in software and computing and Columbia is in sportswear two very different industries now however let's say Sun Microsystems were in the spa for businesses while then we would have an issue because they would both have similar marks selling or trading similar products this can't happen so what would happen here is that the company that registered their mark first would be able to prevent the second company from registering the mark which is similar to theirs and in a similar industry in its simplest form registered marks are there to help the consumer differentiate between brands and the products and services that they sell if when you try to register a new mark the internal Property Office will look at existing marks and if they feel that by registering your mark this may cause confusion for the consumer when they are looking to buy a product or service from someone who is in the same industry as you they will deny you that registration once you have registered your mark though you can use the little R symbol inside the circle next to your logo or your brand name unlike copyright registered marks can last indefinitely but they do have to be renewed every 10 years one thing that you cannot do is you cannot register a mark and sit it on a shelf for use at a later date for a registered mark to be viable it must be in constant use so those are the main differences between copyright under registered mark or as I mentioned earlier most people just use the town trademark I hope this cleared up any confusion you may have had in the past about the two terms and you can move forward safe in the knowledge that you have the correct understanding for both for more brand and design advice why not join hundreds of other brand rockers who have signed up to my rock your brand monthly email newsletter it's absolutely free and the advice that I give in there will help you to strengthen your brand and stand out from your competition head on over to rock your brand or quote at UK and sign up until I see you next time folks stay creative


Thanks for your comment Viki Caamano, have a nice day.
- Danny Zachter, Staff Member


Comment by nailazioq

okay hey guys welcome back to the channel um in this week's video i want to show you how you can create a custom logo that you can then get copywriting i feel like there's a lot of confusion online about how to do this the proper way so i want to help clear up that mess as best as i could whether you're an artist a designer a musician or you're just starting a new company i want to teach you how you could create your own 100 original logo that you could then get copywriting so when we look at companies like nike adidas and walmart they all appear to be using this similar font and they're not breaking copyright infringement and i want to show you exactly how they're doing that at the end of this video if you learned something please give it a like comment below and as always subscribe uh we're gonna be making more educational videos entertainment videos and all that so uh let's jump into it so a lot of people think that they could just go on the computer um open up photoshop or illustrator and type out a logo using helvetica like i have here as much as i would love to keep this because it looks great and it was easy to do this is not the proper way because i use helvetica and if i copyright that it'll be a weak logo mark and a workaround that people have come up with and a workaround people have come up with for this is to alter it a little bit by um extending the legs and just giving it a little bit more of a custom look and they think well if i do that now it's it's a unique logo that could then get copyrighted this is my original company logo and that's not the case at all because we've used helvetica as the font and we've altered it a little making it a derivative font and that really isn't the best way you want to represent your company so we really can't do that so i know what you're thinking well how are all these companies doing it then so what they're doing is creating their logo 100 from the beginning to look like helvetica but not actually using helvetica and then altering it or they're not just straight up using helvetica so in simple terms you could create your logo to look however ish as long as from the beginning you create an original drawing you can't start with helvetica and then alter it and you can't just use helvetica those would be weak logo marks derivative fonts and that isn't really a strong way to hold up in court in case you get caught um so we are going to make the make moves letters for walking giants and i'm going to show you exactly how i'm going to do that i'm going to make a drawing that looks helvetica-ish but as you can see it is going to be a 100 original drawing from the beginning and this is the proper way to create a logo that can then get copyrighted for your company so let's jump into itreally this all right guys so welcome to the end of the video as you can see i created the entire make moves logo that looks like a hobotica font completely from scratch and again this is the proper way to make a copyrightable logo you start from scratch you vector it and then you actually submit it to the government site where you'll get a certificate of registration so what i mean by that is to start your copyright you would just go to copyright.gov make an account with them and just follow the steps to register a copyright it's really straightforward it's really simple the site gives you all information you need to just plug it in and submit it's really cheap it's only 55 and you can submit up to as many items as you want that you can fit on a sheet of paper so what i mean by that is when you go to submit you'll submit a sheet of paper size document and as many things as you could fit on that document is what will get copyrighted now that'll take about four to eight weeks the government is really slow as you guys know probably work with the dmv and other government agencies they always take forever but in about four to eight i would say maybe even 10 weeks you should get a document that looks something like this now this is a copy of my official copyrights i own about eight copyrights i copyright all the work that we make for walking giants and this is the actual certificate of registration distributed by the government sealed with the united states copyright office seal and with the registration number um as you can see the seal is here your registration number will be here the title of your work will be right here um the year was published your information will be the author the copyright claim all this stuff it is very simple the site makes it really easy to provide all information you need to um pretty much just plug and submit so i would recommend that when you go to submit your copyright document fit as many things as you can at a visibly appropriate size and uh then you could submit then you could copyright up to you know a dozen things at once for the price of one the amount of items on the document doesn't affect the price so if you could fit you know 20 things you could copyright 20 things with the price of one which is 55 so if you found this video helpful please give it a like comment below and as always subscribe we're always trying to come up with more creative cool um videos for you guys so please support the channel if you also want to get some merch link for the merch is in the description below and um yeah thank you guys for watching peace


Thanks nailazioq your participation is very much appreciated
- Danny Zachter


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