Oriental wrote:ksl wrote:I'm just curious, about trade marks.
I have been playing around with my own designs, for quite a while now, but cannot help thinking if it is worth while spending money for a professional company to design one for me, After all there are no guarantees, are there?
I have really many to chose from, which i have done myself, after consulting the trade mark criteria, and gosh, so complicated it is, and expensive, because of all the different classes, one can register under.
It is a very important step, but how does one measure the importance in financial terms?
Once the payment is made, there is still no guarantee it will go through and the money is not refundable, So is it better to wait until your product is successful, with the logo unregestered, I personally think not!
I'm just fishing for opinions.
To my knowledge you enjoy protection simply by establishing your brand in a market. But the extend of your protection depends on the geographically scope of your business. For example if your geographically scope is the town you’re living in then your brand is protected there. But if someone in the neighbouring town copies your brand, there’s nothing much you can do about it.
Also I seem to recall that even if you register a trademark and do not use it within a certain time frame you eventually forfeit the protection granted.
My advice to you would be to first focus on growing your new business. When your business has proven it’s growth potential then you can register your trademark in multiple markets. At that time professional advise is recommended, which you would pay for out of the profit from your business.
Thanks Oriental, I have actually found out, from the patent website, that even if you have your own trade mark, and it is used on a regular basis, that your protection is very limited in a Court case, and the person using a trade mark without it being registered, has the burden of proof.
Whereby the benefits of registering the trade mark with the patent office, normally pays off in Court.
In fact I have already submitted the trade mark now, after doing some deep research on the trade mark sites in USA, UK and Singapore.
Geographical scope, I think you will find that all the international patent & trade mark offices work together on a computerised search system and will not authorise the trade mark, if it is being used in another Country, if it is in the same product classification.
The latest court case in China, was against a Chinese Company using the name Ikea, trying to profit on the name which was already registered, in it's home Country, the guy tried his best to document that it was is own trade mark, without success.
It is a complicated search and I believe well worth the fee, for 10 years, if you are able to come up with a classic trade mark that sends out the message you want to send, also because there are many classifications in which a trade mark are acceptable, without infringement.
The initial time of design is of great importance, this is why they suggest submitting the design in a closed envelope, and posting to yourself, for proof of date, time stamp if there are Court actions. If you cannot document the time hen you made up the design, it will be thrown out, no matter how long you have used, the mark. Unfortunate, but it seems that the patent office, do have some weight in the Courts.
And of course they have, with it being a government business, making lots of money.