Trademarks- For You and For Me…

The most commonly seen and found branch of Intellectual Property Law is Trademarks. We see them everywhere, use them on a daily basis, and make all our buying decisions based on them. For instance, the car you drive, the kitchen blender you use, the cereal you eat, the books you read are all bought by you based on your recognition of trademarks. Even the computer you use or the watch you wear is all based on how familiar certain trademarks seem to you. Marketing gurus refer to this as “brand recognition,”or  in other words, a trademark.

Some trademarks, like Kodak, Nike, the Tarzan yell and the McDonald’s arches, are instantly recognizable. That is the value of a good trademark. Essentially, it means any word or symbol that is associated with the product or service that marks it apart from others in the marketplace. A trademark is any word, logo, sound, shape, color or color combination or even a smell, that identifies it in the mind of the consumer.

As you look through a magazine or at a billboard you see the Nike swoosh in an advertisement and instantly set it apart from the Adidas slogan “Impossible is nothing.” Likewise, the flavor and smell of a Starbucks Latte is a trademark as well, because you are able to distinguish between a Starbucks drink and a coffee drink made from another coffee maker.

Trademarks can also be called service marks. In the USA, “SM” notably stands for a trademark, which is used to identify a “Service offered”. Service Marks are used in connection with services offered such as AT&T where, a tone sound followed by a woman speaking the company’s name is used, to identify its long distance service. Also, MGM has used the sound of a Lion’s roar for its motion pictures, which is considered as a Service Mark.

There are various types of trademarks:-

· A Trademark ™

· A Service Mark ℠

· Collective Marks— are marks or service marks used by members of societies or cooperatives or any other groups or organizations or associations, unions and others. These are used to distinguish between the member and non- member of a group or association.

· Certification Mark— is a mark which is used to endorse the characteristics or endorse a particular characteristic of a good or service such as region, origin or quality of the goods or services. If the services were performed by members of an organization or association or union, the Certification mark will testify to they’re having performed such services.

· Trade Name— is a name or mark adopted by a business to distinguish between the company or business and the goods or services it provides.

· Trade Dress— The total appearance of a good or service is protected under the § 43 (a) of the Lanham Act. A Trade Dress is the whole image of the product or goods or services and can be protected if it is unique and not contributing to the product’s function in any way.