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10 compelling reasons why business owners need to register their trademark

By James Wan

What you need to know (in a nutshell)

  1. Registering a trademark legally secures your brand and gives you more freedom to operate.
  2. Registering a trademark informs others of your rights and helps strengthen partnerships.
  3. A registered trademark can boost your brand’s worth, be advantageous for marketing, and provide revenue through licensing opportunities.

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Entrepreneurs should know that their brand can be an invaluable resource and trademark registration is the best way to safeguard it. A registered trademark protects a company’s name, logo, key product/service names, slogan etc., so all businesses should explore registering one.

Here are 10 reasons why trademarks matter:

  1. Registering a trademark legally secures your brand. Most countries require registration to gain trademark rights; however, a few nations may provide limited protections based on use. It’s typically best to register a brand for solid legal ownership of it.

  2. Registration of trademarks may give you more freedom to operate. It’s probable that if you don’t register your trademark, someone else in another nation could potentially do so. Most of these cases are not intentional. Every day there are more than 15 thousand trademark applications applied for; it is likely somebody has the same idea as you and registers even a similar name which can be very problematic and costly to you — especially if they’re from countries important to yours.

  3. Registering a trademark informs others of your legal rights. Registering your trademark makes it public knowledge, which allows other companies to be aware of and respect your ownership. This lowers the risk of any infringement on your rights.

  4. Trademarks are an economical type of IP. Filing for your trademarks will save you money in the event of a dispute, no matter who is charged with infringement or if someone’s accused yours. In any case where rights have been violated, irrespective of whose was correct at last, it will require funds and resources from all sides.

  5. Strengthen partnerships. Many nations, particularly in Asia, need your trademark to be secured for their partners. This is due to them investing finances and credibility into making your products accessible locally. Without protection of a trademark they may risk knock-offs or copies being made without authorization; lack of protection conveys disinterest towards safeguarding the partner’s interests. Securing one’s brand helps draw better collaborators thus protecting all those involved.

  6. Boost your brand’s worth. A registered trademark can boost your brand’s worth. Per ISO 10668:2010, this is one of three factors that make up the value of a brand.

  7. Investors regard intellectual property protection highly. Investors may assign more value to enterprises that safeguard their intellectual property. There are several motives for this; one being the value of IP can extend indefinitely (unlike physical assets), and another is it decreases risks in operations.

  8. Securing a trademark is serious business. If a company doesn’t reinforce its trademark and commercial identity, it becomes difficult to take them seriously. Trademarks represent the source of origin or a quality indicator for businesses