Company name or logo
What is company name or logo?
One of the first choices for any new business is choosing a company name and company logo. It will introduce the new brand. The choice is important because they will later become his protected sign. In other words – the name or logo, and etc. are this company sign. Through the protected company logo, the owner will be recognized among consumers. It is important for the logo to be distinctive. At the same time, it must have an impact and be recognizable in order to achieve individualization in the presentation of the goods and/or services of the company.
Regardless of the method of use, the sign can be registered. In this way, the sign will be converted into a registered trademark for the company that uses it. The selection of an appropriate logo or company name should go in parallel with the trademark search regarding what trademarks are used for the same or similar goods and services by other companies. In all cases, when choosing a new company name or logo, as well as when creating a new trademark, it must be checked whether the mark is no longer “occupied” under earlier rights.
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How to protect a company name or logo?
What is a company sign?
There are different types of company signs that can be registered as trademarks. Some of them have already been presented – the company name and company logo. There are other examples of company signes that can be registered as trademarks: slogan, image, melody, picture, etc.
It is permissible to protect as a trademark different combinations of signs, the only condition being that they be used in this combination to indicate goods or services.
How is a company sign protected?
The company sign (name or logo) can be protected as intellectual property by obtaining industrial property rights. Legal protection as an object of industrial property is provided with a trademark registration certificate. In order for a trademark to be registered, that trademark must be a sign. It must be possible to present it graphically. The sign is used to distinguish the goods or services of one natural or legal person from those of another.
What is the procedure for protection of company name or logo?
Before moving on to the trademark registration, it is advisable to search whether it is free to use. However, in order to register a trademark, it is necessary to file an application for trademark registration. The application shall include: the sign for which protection is sought and which must be presented graphically, as well as the classes for the goods and/or services that will be marked with this sign.
The selection of the classes of goods and/or services is the most important moment in the filing of the application, as they determine the scope of legal protection of the registered trademark. For our territory, applications for trademark registration are filed with the Bulgarian Patent Office (BPO). In case of business interest in more than one country, it should be taken into account that it is necessary to seek protection on the territory of individual countries or to submit an application for registration that is suitable for market realization.
Sign
Company names or logos and slogans are most often registered as trademarks. The graphic presentation of the sign is a necessary and compulsory condition. Trademarks denote goods or services. The graphic presentation should give the consumer a complete idea of the mark. It is a common practice, in the presence of a distinctive brand and accompanying logo, to file for protection both – the word element and the graphic sign. This is done by filing of two applications for trademark registration. However, this ensures complete protection against imitations. If you have to choose between a word element and a graphic one, then the graphic elements such as the company logo will always have a greater distinction on the market among consumers. In case of hesitation, always leading should be the recognizability that will bring the protected element.
Goods and services
Before initiating a procedure for registration of a company name, logo or distinctive sign, it is necessary to make a complete list of the goods or services for which the trademark will be used. To this end, a detailed list of goods and services has been drawn up which trademark applicants can use. This list is called the “INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES FOR THE REGISTRATION OF TRADEMARKS” or also called the “NICE CLASSIFICATION”. This classification contains 34 groups of goods and 11 groups of services, which are called titles of classes and are a total of 45 classes. This division of titles of classification classes allows trademark owners to find the appropriate goods and/or services of each class for which they will use their registered sign.
Did you know that?
The trademark may be used as an unregistered trademark.
The owner of a registered trademark that is in force may prohibit the use of an Internet domain name containing the name of his trademark.
See more…
TRADEMARK SEARCH
Preliminary assessment of the freedom to use company name or logo.
BULGARIAN TRADEMARK
Trademark protection for the territory of Bulgaria.
