Logo Design and Branding

Logo Design Examples

Animals	Entertainment	Fish	Floral	Food and Drink
Holidays	Home	Mammals	People	Scenic Images
Other Great Logo Sources
Home Improvement Logos	Home Kitchen Cooking Tools opened source image logos		Home Kitchen Pressure Cooker manufacturer emblems

The Legal Side of Branding Your Logo

You have a great idea for a company name, a certain look, and even a catchy tagline. Before you put your ideas together into the perfect logo, however, make sure that logo is not infringing on another’s legal rights.

Below are a few items to consider. Click on the item for specific suggestions related to it.

Is your concept similar to someone else providing a comparable product or service?

Copying the work of another business or person will make you vulnerable to legal action. If there are some strong brand names in your category, make sure your concept does not follow their lead.

Use popular Internet search engines to see if your name, slogan and other concepts are already in use. Also, search the United States Patent and Trademark Office database to determine if similar marks have been registered. Finally, request a trademark screening in every country you plan on doing business in.

Attorneys who specialize in patent and trademark law are not required, but can be a great help in covering all the bases, since the cost of taking cautious measures upfront will far outweigh the expense of defending against trademark infringement at a later time.

How do you find out if a name, word, symbol, slogan or design is already taken?

Using popular search engines and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office databases is an excellent way to see if you are stepping on anyone’s toes. An even better option is to seek the services of legal counsel in order to perform a professional clearance search and analysis. This needs to cover variations on the mark (name, slogan, design, etc.) using both state and federal databases, as well as common law sources. You should perform these actions before making a proper final decision.

However, all these steps may be unnecessary depending on what your goals are (a logo for a children’s sports team, a local church or political campaign, etc.), but it is always better to be prepared if your goals are big.

How can you differentiate yourself from others?

Stay away from generic descriptions, surnames, and geographically descriptive words. Instead, choose something a little more fanciful or random with respect to your products or services. These kinds of “marks” will build a stronger case for trademark protection and help to be more visually recognizable in the mind of your customer base.

To stand apart from others, try to create a set of uniquely strong names or concepts that can be easily memorized or associated with your product or service. Then, test these ideas out on your friends and associates for feedback and insight into the general impression your concept makes. Be open to their ideas or criticism, as long as they provide constructive suggestions that will help in modifying or changing your existing work.

Logo Design Studio will help you put your ideas into action with creative objects, editing tools, and text-enhancing fonts. The logos you create using this program can be uniquely yours, even if others base themselves off the same templates, so long as the name (and tagline or slogan) is different.

However, according to the U.S. Copyright Office, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark. If you plan to use your name, product or service in interstate or international commerce, be sure to check with both the Copyright Office and the Patent and Trademark Office to protect your rights.

What’s the difference between trademarks, service marks and registered trademarks?

As defined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office:

A trademark ™ is a name, word, symbol or device, or any combination thereof used, or intended to be used, in commerce that identifies and distinguishes goods from one another. A service mark (SM) is similar to a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms “trademark” and “mark” are commonly used to refer to both trademarks and service marks.

A registered trademark (®) may be used once the mark is actually registered in the USPTO. The federal registration symbol should only be used on goods or services that are the subject of the federal trademark registration. Even though an application is pending, the registration symbol may not be used before the mark has actually become registered.

Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark. Trademarks which are used in interstate or foreign commerce may be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office; you can find information on this on the USPTO website at http://www.uspto.gov/web/forms/index.html or through proper legal counsel.

How can you protect your rights from infringement by others?

In the United States, as in many other countries, the rights in a trademark come from first use. This common law system grants ownership of a mark to the first party that uses it in association with goods or services, but the further step of nationally (and internationally) registering the trademark in classes relating to the goods’ or services’ purpose will help to secure your rights. Registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office AND safely documenting all instances of early usage is vital to protecting you from others.

Tags: type logos, logo types, custom logo, manufacturer logo, real estate branding, corporation logo, branding strategies, sports logo

Date: Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 10:50 pm | Category: General | RSS Feed: RSS 2.0 feed.
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