What Startups Need to Know About Trademarks

This article is a kind contribution from Pete McAllister 

Startups and their founders have a lot to juggle, with multiple projects to be across while building the foundation blocks of your business. From finding an office space to hiring the right people, to developing an online marketing plan, as well as building relationships with clientele.

A crucial step in building a new venture is to have a firm understanding of intellectual property laws. This will help you to develop an Intellectual Property strategy that aligns your business goals and ensures you are protected from the beginning of your business.

What is Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) refers to ideas, information and knowledge, types of non-physical property, that is the product of original thought. IP laws are in place to protect the creator’s interests, through enforcing legal rights to control and stop the reproduction of these ideas.

As intellectual property is an idea that is conceived in the mind of an individual, it can, therefore, be thought of as their legal property. This becomes more complicated when the idea is manifested in a more tangible way, for example, artistic works, designs, creations, symbols, logos, names and images.

Trademarks, copyrights, and patents all protect different types of intellectual property. It is important to know what type is best for your business.

A trademark typically protects brand names and logos used on goods and services. A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work. A patent protects an invention.

Why Trademark is Important

While you may not realise it, you are interacting with trademarks every day. With a person’s interaction with a business and brand often heavily influenced by the trademark and branding.

A crucial step in building a new venture on a solid foundation is, to have a firm understanding of intellectual property laws. With so many companies trying to protect their identity, ensuring that you have a good intellectual property strategy from the outset, can save you from large trademark disputes later.

Trademarks Are An Effective Tool of Communication

Trademarks convey meaning and messages about you, your brand and its reputation. A trademark doesn’t just have to be a name, a symbol like as the McDonald Arches is internationally recognised and transcends language barriers.

As branding can often be the driving factor in the customer’s decision to work with you, the trademark allows a customer to immediately recognise who they are working with.

Trademarks are a Valuable Asset

As your business grows and its reputation becomes more valuable, your trademarks can appreciate.

Though marketing and online campaigns, your brand’s name becomes more valuable, with a trademark adding value to your core business. Allowing the expansion of the business from one industry to another.

Once you have registered a trademark, it becomes your property asset, it can be bought, sold and licensed and in some cases used to secure a loan and grow your business. Technology licensing is a good way of bringing your brand to the forefront. In the end, and if done right, the brand can become more valuable than the technology.

Investors value companies higher if it has protected its intellectual property. Not only do trademarks add to the value of the intellectual property, but it can also increase indefinitely, as well as having intellectual property protection reduces operational risks.

Registered Trademarks Enhance Your Freedom To Operate.

If you do not register your trademark, it is possible (or even likely) that somebody in another country will register a similar name or logo. Most conflicts are not intentional, as intellectual property is protected by extensive laws, it is that these differ from country to country. Issues and disputes can often arise because of unavoidable ambiguities and crossovers between different legislations.

Trademarks Can Make You A Desirable Employer

Not only is your branding a symbol of a company’s reputation, but it can also be associated with image and identity for your employers. As a result, employment opportunities are more attractive to candidates. Meaning that if employees have positive feelings for the brand and the products and services offered, employee retention will often be higher.

Your branding is a critical asset to your business, that is why it is important to protect it from the outset. The more you differentiate your brand from others in your industry, the easier it’ll be to protect. Choose a name and logo that distinctly identify your business and will protect it from competitors.

As the process can be complicated, working with a trademark attorney when setting up the foundation of your business, can help you to determine whether a brand is available, helping you to avoid the very high costs of a dispute or litigation.