How your business can benefit from trademark protection?

How your business can benefit from trademark protection?

Businesses can benefit from protecting their intellectual property (IP) in a myriad of ways. But what constitutes IP? There are a number of forms of IP, but these days, branding is one of the most common forms of IP. It is often an extremely important part of your business as it is the first point of contact with your target market. For the purposes of this blog, when we refer to IP, we are probably talking about your branding.

For most businesses, branding represents real tangible value and should be treated as such. Branding is how you communicate with your audience, show value and illustrate what your business will be like to deal with. It is basically your personality. If your business is one which relies on its brand, we recommend implementing trademark protection.

Why protect your brand?

There are several reasons, which as listed below, are centred around valuing your brand:

1. Trademark protection reduces risk – registering a trademark ensures that your ownership is publicised, which will reduce the risk that you will lose control of your IP

 

2. Trademarks illustrate value – especially when selling a business, merging or looking at taking on investors (as your branding can be tangibly valued)

 

3. Branding attracts and retains talent and strategic partnerships – employees, contractors and partners are more attracted to strong brands as they are an indication of value, importance and influence – why would you leave this unprotected?

 

4. Branding stimulates growth and innovation – protecting your branding and being conscious of its value allows for your business to grow and attracts innovation

 

5. Trademark protection facilitates control – protecting your brand allows you to control where it goes, who uses it, how you are remunerated and allows for continued monitoring and

 

6. Brand protection allows for the enforcement of your rights – registering your brand with a registered body, allows you to prevent other parties from exploiting your IP.

 

We recommend considering if you would benefit from trademark protection, as having it can be a key part of a well-rounded corporate structure. For example, if you have a business built on reputation, have a website, or sell goods and services, a trademark would add value to your business.

 

What can be protected?

Although the most common form of trademarking consists of words and logos, you can protect a number of other branding elements such as:

• Look and feel
• Video/music
• Graphics
• Applications
• Web interfaces
• Packaging

 

Convinced that trademarking is a good idea?

If you can see the value in protecting your branding, whether it is a brand name, logo, a phrase or design and would like some assistance with trademark registration, get in touch with Tammi for a free initial consultation.

We are here to discuss the needs of your business, assist you to protect your brand and get you demonstrating real value to your stakeholders.

If you would like some more information about protecting your IP, you can find informative resources online through IP Australia.

 

Co-written by Kurt Fechner.

The information contained in this blog is general in nature and should not be considered to be legal, tax, accounting, consulting or any other professional advice. In all cases, you should consult with a professional advisor familiar with your factual situation for advice concerning specific matters before making any decisions. By reading this blog, you confirm your understanding of this disclaimer.