Trademarks represent valuable brand assets for organizations and their executive directors, it has been claimed.
Writing for Smart Business, Kelly Borth, chief executive and chief strategy officer for Greencrest, explained that they are like patents – which prevent inventors from duplicating somebody else’s product – but offer greater protection in the sense that they do not have a limited right of use.
And trademarks can be assigned to anyone or anything – the person who created it, the shareholders or the company who markets the products and services.
Ms. Borth said trademarks, trade names or service marks are interchangeable terms and provide market differentiation, define proprietary processes, brand products and define ownership.
Using them lays claim to company names, product and service names, positioning taglines, characters and artwork and more, she noted.
A good example of this would be McDonald’s. Try using a ‘Mc’ in front of anything and see what happens,” Ms. Borth said.
“As consumers, when we hear something with the prefix ‘Mc’, we automatically connect with McDonald’s because of the way the company has branded its products.”