Protecting your Brand – the Role of Trademarks

Patents, registered designs and registered trademarks are what is known as “intellectual property” (IP):

• Trademarks offer a reassurance of quality to consumers with signs, symbols and smells to distinguish.  Registrations of trade marks last for 10 years and are renewable on request. (®  is a registered trademark and ™ denotes an unregistered trademark)
• Patents are the strongest and most respected type of IP.  It covers features of a product or system and has a monopoly for twenty years.
• Copyright is automatic and lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years

By trademarking your brand you have:

• An asset, which is valuable if you consider selling the business in the future
• Infinite rights to the trademark as long as you renew
• Infringement rights, with the burden of proof falling on the infringer.

However once it’s registered by you, it is up to you and your employees to monitor and protect.  Some myths surround trademarks, such as company or domain name registration giving you the rights to trademarks, however that is not true.

If you plan to be exporting over the coming years, make sure the trademark name has no negative connotations in the markets you plan on entering. A clearance search should be done to ensure there is no duplication of trademarks, but you should allow time to do this.  Trademarks are done on a country by country basis but you can apply for a Community Trademark that covers all the EU countries.

For more information on this how to protect your brand with trademarks, visit www.patentsoffice.ie

Paula Donoghue, Insight & Brand Manager, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

Source: Bord Bia – Protecting your Brand – the Role of Trademarks