Business law and trademarks

There are many considerations that must be taken into account when creating and maintaining a business. The type of business created, the employees to hire and countless management decisions can all make or break one’s company. One long-term, ongoing business issue is the building and maintenance of the brand and reputation. This can take years, sometimes even decades. For many businesses, developing a strong brand and reputation is dependent upon customers making positive associations with a company’s logo, slogan and even the appearance of their stores.

To protect these identifiers, businesses can secure trademark protection. Generally speaking, a trademark is legal protection for a symbol, logo, name, word or slogan that is intended to identify and distinguish the goods or services provided by one business from goods sold by competitors. Businesses can choose to register their marks as trademarks, which gives them immediate legal rights, such as evidence of ownership and protection from the importation of foreign goods that might infringe on the business’s trademark.

When businesses discover that another business in the same field is using a confusingly similar mark, then they may be able to file a lawsuit for trademark infringement. By doing so, a company can not only protect the reputation of its brand, but also seek damages caused by the confusing mark. There are certain legal elements that must be proven to establish infringement, which means that those that are confronting an intellectual property dispute may want to discuss the matter with a skilled business law attorney.

Protecting a business’s intellectual property can make a world of difference on many different levels, including the bottom line. Therefore, these businesses need to not only obtain proper registration to give themselves as much protection as possible, but also police their intellectual property to ensure that any infringements are caught and stopped as quickly as possible. Those who have questions about intellectual property matters can discuss them with a skilled business law firm.