What Is A Trade Mark?

Brand identities everywhere are protected by the letters TM and all the legislation that those letters stand for. A trade mark is a mark that can be applied to a good or service, this mark differentiates the product it is applied to from other similar products. A trade mark should also be able to be represented in a graphical or visual form; this includes a name, signature, word, letter, number, shape, pattern, colour or any combination.

Once a trade mark meet the above criteria the possibilities are endless to the final form it can take. A few very well recognized trade marks include the arrow device on Parker Pens, the Levis red tab and the Adidas three stripes. But trade marks aren’t only applicable to goods, as mentioned above services can also be trade marked. Types of services that have been trade marked include computer programming, entertainment, hotels and restaurants.

Finally don’t let the jargon confuse you; a trade mark and trade name are two very different things. A trade mark is defined above while a trade name is the legal name under which a company does business, for example Coke is a registered trade mark of Coca Cola.

Get more in depth on the trade mark topic and read 7 Reasons To Register A Trade Mark