| A trademark can be any
distinctive mark such as a word, slogan, letter,
number, sound, smell, shape, logo, picture,
aspect of packaging or any combination of these.
They are used to distinguish the goods and
services of one trader from those of another.
A registered trade mark gives the legal right
to use, license or sell it within the country
where it is registered for the goods and
services for which it is registered.
The difference between trade marks, business,
company and domain names sometimes causes
confusion. Registration of a business, company
or domain name does not in itself give you any
proprietary rights - only a trade mark can give
you that kind of protection. The same
word(s) may be registered by different people as
business names and trade marks. But the
registered trademark owner can sue the business
owner for infringing the trade mark if the
business name owner uses the trademark on goods
or services similar to those covered by the
trade mark registration. |
