Trademark Registration
Trademark registration is not a quick and simple process. Instead, trademark registration can take months or even years. Trademark registration can also be extremely expensive. There are several steps to trademark registration and any individual or business looking to obtain a registered trademark should educate themselves with the process before starting it. A registered trademark can be widely used by individuals and businesses in order to identify themselves, their products, their service or all of the above. Although it is an expensive process and can be difficult, there are a plethora of examples that prove it can be worth the time and money.
• A registered trademark can be a big reason for a company’s success. This is especially true with companies that either sell food and beverages in a retail environment or in restaurants. The Pepsi, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Gatorade logos are all great examples of how powerful a registered trademark can be.
• The entertainment industry is probably the best example of the how a registered trademark can attract people to the owner’s purpose. Most successful band have a logo that identifies the band. These logos are usually registered trademarks and are owned by the band or their management. The Rolling Stones tongue as well as The Grateful Dead’s skull have become iconic logos. These registered trademarks are used on posters, clothes, coffee cups, stuffed animals and almost anything you can imagine. Recently the fashion world has taken older band’s logos and used them to sell products. For example, a current fashion fad has companies putting The Rolling Stones tongue and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon logos on worn out T shirts to make them look vintage. Many people who buy these T shirts may have never heard any of the band’s music. However, the trademarks are so popular and iconic that the shirts sell.
• Registered trademarks are a big part of the sports industry. Every professional sports team has a logo which is a registered trademark of the association they belong to. For example, the wide white “G” inside of the dark green oval with a yellow outline is the official logo of the Greenbay Packers. This logo is a registered trademark of the National Football League. Sports logos are also used on virtually anything that they can be printed on, from underwear to blankets, stickers to toothbrush holders, carpets to coffee mugs and everything in between.
Trademark registration can cost a lot of money and take a lot of time. However, the success of these examples are great evidence that registered trademarks can be extremely beneficial to an individual or business. Logos are the sole reason why so many products and services have become successful.