Select the Right Trademark | Trademark Registration

Trademark is popularly known as Brand Name which use in the trade to distinguish one’s good and services from those of others. It may be a word, signature, design, symbol, phrase or combination of characters to represent a business product or services.
It is the most important property of any business will ever hold, you should know how to create a distinctive Trademark. This task must be completed before the Trademark Registration.

A weak trademark can involve your business in legal disputes and can harm your market reputation. Creation and Selection of a trademark are as simple as following as the guidelines written below.

Steps   to Select  the Right Trademark

Already Registered

First thing is to know, that the idea of a trademark is not already registered. To check trademark availability in India, visit the trademark search database using a browser.

No Descriptive Words

Descriptive words show the nature or description of the product but not clarify the source of it. Eg: the mark “Coffee bar” for use with coffee shops which describes the actual service. If it’s registered, then no one could ever have use “coffee” and “bars” to describe the coffee distributing service.

No last Name/name/geographic location

Trademark Registration laws prohibit the marks to register merely by the name or surname of the individual or geographic location. As it is basically known to the number of people which may associate it with some product or services. Eg: Steve cars, for instance, is a poor choice because the steve is a name and cars describe the product. Alsace is another example, as it is a wine region which prevents any producer to have this name for any product.

No Generic words

Here, is to avoid generic terms such as the laundromat, American, gold and ballpoint pen etc. The goal is to select a unique and distinguishable trademark for registration. A generic can only be valid when the consuming public misuses that term to become the popular mark for a product.

Avoid three letter Acronyms

Avoid using numbers and acronyms which are naturally difficult to remember. Instead, use some colorful words to make Trademark memorable for people, as they are easily fit in minds. But there are some acronyms which have registered as a strong trademark such as IBM or AT & T, but it only happened after throwing enough money for it.

Use the name of animals or plants

An animal or plant name makes easy for people to memorize and covey a strong image of the product also. Eg; Apple computers, Jaguar cars which sounds good while saying and show distinctive characteristics.

Invented words

Last, just use your mind to find an inventive word. You can create by simply adding two words together. Eg: Equifax is a combination of equitable and factual.

Categorization of words

To know the relative strength of the marks, make the list of potential trademarks. A strong trademark can easily get register and more protective in spite of the weaker marks – which can face more obstacles to get register. Here are three strong categories to evaluate the list of words:

1.Coined Words

These words are also known as fanciful words. Coined words neither have any real meaning nor reference to the goods or services. You can categorize those words which are invented by yourself. It may be difficult at first to remember but further, it creates a positive association between the product and mark. It may require a lot of marketing efforts at the starting point but have the ability to create a good image.

2.Arbitrary Words

This category includes words which have real meaning and exists in the dictionary. But has no relation to the product or services, just take an example of Jaguar or Amazon. Here Jaguar or Amazon does have meaning but does not describe the quality or nature of the product.

3.Suggestive Words

These words show some attribute or feature of the product but do not give a straightforward description. It easily creates a direct image of the business product and has the ability to create an association between the mark and the product in the mind of the consumer.

Lastly, be careful while selecting and evaluating the Trademarks for your company or business. Hence, we have already discussed some guidelines to keep in mind. Mark is the first thing which builds an image in the customers’ eyes.