Symbols ™, ® and ©

The symbols are all related to Intellectual Property Law and are used differently depending on the assets they are made to protect. Intellectual Property(IP) is made to protect creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

A trademark offers legal protection for a word, symbol, phrase, logo, design, or combination of those that represent a source of goods or services.

It is used to differentiate the goods and services of one company from those of its competitors

Copyright protects original works of expression, such as novels, fine arts, music, audio recordings, photography, software, video, cinema, and choreography by preventing people from copying or commercially exploiting them without the copyright owner's permission.

Copyrights and trademarks are both used to protect the intellectual property of specific forms. The question many clients ask is whether they should copyright or trademark. Trademarking gives protection for the company brand which includes the name, logo and slogans while copyrights give protection to works of literary and artistic form.

The main limitation of copyright laws is that it does not give the protection to names, logos or slogans that identify a company. Names, titles and short phrases can be protected by a trademark.

This means that a company can register a trademark for its business name, slogans, logos and other items that contribute to the brand of the product or company.

The benefit of a patent is that it legally protects your invention from being used by another person or company. Trademarks, on the other hand, will protect the words, phrases, symbols, logos, or other devices used to identify the source of goods or services from being adopted by its competitors.

The patent generally lasts for about 20 years while a trademark will last for 10 years and can be renewed after 10 years by paying the renewal fee.

A trade name is an official name under which a company operates its business. It is just an identifier to the customers. Having a trading name can form the basis for registering your trademark for a company. A trademark is a tool used to protect your brand name, which at times might be related to your trade name. A trademark, as earlier stated, consists of a recognizable logo, company name, slogan, jingle, colour, shape.

Your trademark may be copied by another company as long as you have not filed an application to register it as your own mark.

You need to note that the (™) symbol actually has no legal meaning. You can use the symbol on any mark that your company uses without registering it.

The surest way to ensure your competitors will not be able to copy your mark or plagiarise it is to file an application to register your mark.

One may use the trademark symbol without having registered the mark yet. However, once you have successfully registered your trademark, you acquire the registered status and therefore can use the Registered (®) symbol to mark your goods or services in commerce. Therefore, anyone can use the Trademark ™ symbol but it is illegal to use the Registered(®) symbol without having registered your mark through the Intellectual Property Office.

Once registered(®), a trademark is legally protected against another company’s use of the name or image. Any future companies that wish to register their own design/name/image have to check to be sure that it is not like any other registered trademarks. If the image is quite similar and is still produced, the company is guilty of trademark infringement.