As an entrepreneur, one of your goals is the advancement of your company from the startup phase to the growth phase. You are constantly engaging in creating sustainable growth strategies for your company. There is a continuous effort to balance your expansion expenses and your profits. However, in this quest to optimize the company revenue, many entrepreneurs tend to ignore the significance of protecting their intellectual property.
Whether it is your trade name, logo, tagline or design, it can be beneficial to take the necessary steps to avoid any incidence of infringement. Federal protection is available to those who successfully register their trademarks. To obtain this protection, companies should apply for registration of their trademarks in a timely manner. Here’s a closer look at the reasons why trademark registration is an essential for every entrepreneur:
To Ensure an Ease of Growth
Many young business owners consider trademarking to be an unnecessary expense for their growing business. This might even be true during the initial days of inception of your organization. But, as your company grows, your market share tends to also grow. Your brand value can increase and your trademarks may be at a greater risk of infringement.
As your brand grows successfully, other smaller players may look to cash in on your brand value. These free-riders often benefit from the money spent on the marketing activity of larger companies. A popular example of this is the McDonald’s versus Singapore’s Future enterprises’ litigation, in which the “Future Enterprises challenged the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s rejection of its application to register ‘MACCOFFEE’ as an EU trademark for foodstuffs and beverages”. You certainly, do not want to face something similar for your company. Consulting a trademark agent to assist with the protection of your business’s trademarks may be beneficial for entrepreneurs seeking consistent growth.
To Avoid Unnecessary Litigation Costs
Another aspect to trademarking comes from the exuberant costs involved in rebranding. If you neglect the process of trademarking your brand name, logo and title at the stage of conception, then there is a risk of someone else registering the same name before you do. So even if you were the first one to have used those brand elements for your company, the opposing company will leverage the fact that your trademark is not registered to their benefit. Often, the party with a registered trademark will have an upper hand in infringement lawsuits. At the end of the legal battle, if you lose, you may be required to pay damages to the other party and may also need to spend a significant amount on rebranding for your company.
Trademarking can be a cumbersome affair initially, but in the long run it is an investment for your company. With a registered trademark, you can create a distinct brand image to increase the brand recall for your target audience. With the help of a trademark agent, the trademark process can be greatly simplified. To learn more about this you can refer to our blog on trademark registration.