Pierre Balmain v EUIPO: the distinctiveness of a figurative mark consisting of a lion’s head
11th March 2024
Owning a trade mark registration can be a very useful and valuable asset for your business. The reason brands exist is so that customers can:
In short, brands encourage customer loyalty which equals higher sales.
If you have invested money into coming up with a brand, you must also invest money into protecting that brand, otherwise you run the risk of somebody else copying it. The simplest and most cost-effective way to protect your brand is to register it as a trade mark for the goods and services you use it on/intend to use it on. Registering your trade mark will make it much easier for your business to enforce your intellectual property rights against those who try to muscle in on your market share by attempting to confuse customers into believing their products are yours.
A registered trade mark is a very real and valuable intangible asset that can be licenced to other businesses in return for a fee. Licensing your trade mark to other entities can lead to a number of benefits such as affording you the opportunity to make your goods and services available in foreign markets where you may not already have a presence. For example, right now you may not have the sufficient funds or know-how to expand abroad but you would be happy to allow others to sell goods and services under your mark and pay you royalties for the privilege of doing so.
Many countries will allow you to register your trade mark before you actually start using it on the market there which can help deter others from attempting to dishonestly use your brand in jurisdictions where you aren’t yet providing your goods or services. Trade mark rights are territorial and so it is vital to identify at an early stage what countries you intend to provide your goods and services in and register your trade mark there – otherwise you run the very real risk of an unethical organisation or individual spotting how well your brand is doing in one country and applying to register it in another country in order to cash in on your success and block you from expanding into that market in the future. Such a situation could inevitably lead to a lost opportunity to gain market share in that jurisdiction and reduce the value potential investors might place on your brand when deciding whether or not they wish to invest in or purchase your business.
If you'd like any further information on the above, please reach out and contact us.