When you are starting a company, your first priority is creating a great product or service. While ideally this will be enough to attract and draw in consumers to your business, marketing and branding is an extremely important way to connect with a wider audience and let your business grow. As you focus on marketing, it’s important to remember to protect your branding. The best way to do this is with federal trademark registrations. Registrations should be obtained for your company’s name, the name of your product or service, as well as logos that are associated with your business. This is a great investment in the future of your company and will maximize the return on investment and sales resulting from your marketing investments.
Protecting Your Brand
Absent protecting your branding, your competitors will have an economic incentive to copy all of it, especially if your business is successful. The main goal of obtaining federal trademark registrations for your branding is to prohibit your competitors from using your branding or using similar branding that may take away from the value of your investments in marketing and sales. Competitors will not be able to use your branding in their own marketing and will not be able to use similar branding that may take business away from your own business. If a competitor does infringe upon your rights, you will be able to take legal action to protect your intellectual property. Trademark registrations are a necessary business expense for startups and small businesses.
Good For Consumers
As your business grows, consumers will grow to know that if they patronize your business, they will receive a quality product or excellent service. They will know that they are in great hands whenever they see your logo or your company’s name. This brand recognition will give your customer base confidence and will make it easier for your business to spread into new markets as your branding becomes more recognizable. Happy customers will share their positive experiences with friends and family and thanks to your branding, it will be easy for new consumers to find your business! Consumers will be able to buy with confidence when they see your trustworthy brand.
Protecting multilevel branding with trademark registrations can preserve your advantages over the competition. For example, just because a business has all of its branding and product lines protected by federal trademark registrations, it is also important to consider protecting the names of individual products. For example, a restaurant may be famous for a particular recipe that is popular with customers and that recipe may be known by a special name. If the owners obtain a trademark registration for the name of the particular dish, it can be protected- meaning no other restaurant will be able to legally sell that dish with the same name. When customers hear about that dish, they will know that they need to dine at your restaurant to enjoy the famous entree. They will also know that only your restaurant will deliver the desired food with the expected quality, care, and consistency. One well known example of this strategy is Outback Steakhouse’s fried onion dish, which is sold under the name Bloomin’ Onion ®. Outback Steakhouse’s federal trademark registration for Bloomin’ Onion ® prevents any other restaurant from being able to offer a fried onion dish with a confusingly similar name.
Let Us Help You
Are you ready to begin or continue legally protecting your intellectual property but don’t know where to start or what processes are best for you and your business needs? Contact us at Garcia-Zarmor and let us use our expertise to help you get started on the right foot. Our attorneys will use their experience to help you with the legal processes as well as assist you with any potential litigation that may be necessary to help you defend your intellectual property. Remember that your work is worth protecting and early investments in intellectual property protections can provide a strong foundation for your business throughout the years.
Let Us Enforce Your Rights or Defend You From Others
Our flat rate monthly legal fee litigation program can be the perfect way for small and growing businesses to effectively manage necessary litigation. By retaining us at the beginning of the litigation, your business can enjoy predictable, flat rate, monthly legal fees during necessary litigation. This program protects you from having to plan its finances while facing unpredictable and dramatically large legal expenses during necessary litigation. With Garcia-Zamor you will receive superb legal work at a predictable, dependable price that is a fraction of what litigation may otherwise cost!
