Once you have thought about a brand name, you must not delay in registering it. Any slackness in applying for the same might result in another company taking that name before you, in which case you will lose the opportunity to get that trademark registered.

Firstly, you need to undertake a basic check on the current names to verify if the name you want to use is available. You should conduct an elaborate search for resembling trademarks duly registered by other companies to ascertain any chance of duplication. The database maintained by the registration office can help you figure this out.

Then you have to collect the application form and fill in the mandatory information including the name of company, office address, nature of products or services provided and other such details. The filled up form accompanied by the registration fee is then submitted to the relevant authority. However, if you fail to carry out the basic trademark availability check in advance, the concerned authorities will have the right to forfeit your fee of application after cancelling your claim.

Once you have submitted your application, you should be careful as to sensibly respond to the queries asked by the authorities. Any such questions must be answered within the specified time. Once your application has been accepted, you will obtain a certificate from the authorities that will give you the lawful ownership over the trademark in addition to the authority to take action against violation of the same.

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Copyrights deal with protection of original literary and other creative works. They provide legal protection for original works of creativity like novels, movies, musical scores, and so on. It gives legal rights to the creator to make use of the expression of his or her original work in addition to reproducing, distributing, exhibiting or even selling it with absolute freedom within the time decided by law. In most nations, a copyright lasts for fifty years even after the author’s death and any unlawful use within this period is considered an offence.

Patents are legal and registered rights that allow inventors to prevent others from producing or marketing their invention. They offer protection not only for technological breakthroughs and new theories in science but also for discoveries such as biological ones. The protection cover provided by a patent in most countries is for a period of two decades, after which the invention ceases to be the exclusive property of the patent owner.

Trade secrets are those classified ideas or information that a company can use for gaining an edge over its competitors. A trade secret could mean anything ranging from a client database with the contact information of most treasured clients to a unique recipe or even some secret research. Generally, trade secrets are not controlled by the state machinery but by strict internal standards and policies of the particular firm. The usual way of securing trade secrets is by allowing access to only a few key executives and not everyone, or by keeping it safe in a bank together with other valuables and papers.

Trademarks, on the other hand, include one or more words, designs or logos that are related to the firm on the whole or its products and services, which act as identifiers of its brand. Trademarks act as a quick recall of the company in the customer’s mind and create a particular brand identity. Usually, a registered trademark can be renewed after a span of 10 years.

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One of the critical needs for a trademark is that it should be distinctly recognizable and not be similar to other marks existing in the market. The uniqueness of a trademark can be determined by placing it in one of the trademark groups – suggestive, descriptive, fanciful, and generic.

A descriptive mark uses a specific characteristic or aspect of a product to differentiate it from other commodities of its kind. However, marks that are descriptive are not as distinctive as some other marks and thus, they are not generally eligible to be trademarked. Although, if the mark has acquired a secondary identification that is more popular among the consumers, it can be successfully trademarked.

Suggestive marks, as is evident by the name, suggest an essential feature of the product. However, it is usually the case that the mark and the product do not show any obvious relation and the consumers might have to guess the link between the two. For instance, the brand name known as ‘Hush Puppies’ points to a comfortable range of footwear that makes sure that your feet do not become sore. The prime reason behind such a name is that ‘barking dogs’ is used as a slang for sore feet in some places in America.

Arbitrary marks are those marks which do not have any link whatsoever with the product itself. For example, the usage of the mark ‘Apple’ for computers is totally disconnected from the product. Similarly, there is no link between the fanciful name Exxon and the items sold under the trademark as it is a fruit of the creative mind of the marketing agents of the firm.

Finally, generic marks are ones which represent a general category of products like ‘olive oil’ and are granted no protection under the existing trademark laws.

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