Safeguarding a brand is something that every start-up aspires to when it comes to the business’s sustainability. Before starting your own business, it is important to choose the right business structure based on your efficiency, business domain, tax benefits, etc. Here, proprietary firm registration in India does not require any specific registration. Still, it requires some essential registration for better efficiency, such as GST registration, MSME, shop, establishment license, etc.
The process for online trademark registration in India is also straightforward and easy. This can be done through an online portal with the required documents. All of your efforts in starting a new business might go in vain by enabling a third-party to exploit your brand. That’s why you should take the first step in this direction and get the online trademark registration done.
As the trademark is geographical, one can only apply to a location where they conduct their business. It is the only way by which you can safeguard a company’s brand identity to make it exclusive and unique. You will have a right to guarantee legal safeguard that limits the exploitative use from any other third-party.
Security of IP.
A start-up can be a distinguisher in the market by using its brand design, logo, product patterns, or even branding colors. Many big gigantic corporations such as Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc., infuse millions of dollars into intellectual property to safeguard new technologies such as voice interaction.
Take a look at a few ways by which you can benefit from your company’s intellectual property rights.
Logo.
Trademark the logo by approaching the provider of the professional service. They would assist you throughout the registration procedure while ensuring that any other company does not use or exploit your registered mark.
Tagline.
The work arrangements are not allowed to trademark, but you can sign a tagline as your brand’s tagline instead of that. Some requirements are needed to be met while attempting to record a slogan to keep it exclusive, distinctive, and innovative.
For the beginners, ‘just do it’ as you have seen at many places is Nike’s ideology to accept obstacles is distinct enough to signify its tagline. While tagline like ‘Go Green’ label is not allowed by the environment group as it is too diverse and ambiguous.
Colour mark protection.
Remember that trademark definition does not include colors as its part. Nonetheless, businesses were allowed to label a single color or even a combination of them to register a trademark after 1995. It needs commodity facilities, color labeling, and packaging aids to recognize the source and not used for decoration purposes only.
Draft of NDA for safeguarding brand.
Even if you are running a business having proprietor firm registration, remember, IPRs cannot be performed to defend a business concept. Instead, you can legally prescribe the use of your idea by others, in many ways by the use of NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Generally, start-ups generate a whole new distinguisher in the market, and hence, it is only logical to sign it with employees and developers.
The NDA pledges two or more persons to an arrangement that specifies who shares crucial business data with whom the information will not be shared.
Many businesses believe that everyone, including investors, must sign the NDA, but others agree that this is always an intricate move. Since investors should listen to specific ideas and evaluate ideas’ appropriateness, they should juxtapose them with others and debate them.
Use of copyright for branding components.
One way to safeguard your brand is by registering the copyrights, allowing the owners to use the authority and right to restrict others from doing it. Other corporations or individuals will not develop or reuse or imitate a derivative work with branding components. The approved owner can allow any individual to use a copyright mark by licensing it in return, with compensation of money or any other financial earnings. While on the other hand, for work, which is a brand slogan, name, single sentence, or any creation, there will be no copyright safeguard.
Claiming the antecedent usage with a piece of evidence.
More than one brand might seek to register the same mark as a trademark. In a situation like these, where similar trademarks are already in use, disputes are likely to arise. If your business brand is ever entangled in a conflict with another brand that has applied for the same trademark or the like, it has previously used the same brand that provides your brand with an upper hand. Many brands have won cases claiming prior use even of large brands. These are the trademark cases in business from where you can learn, especially when demonstrating the proof of antecedent use.
There are multiple ways of furnishing signs of antecedent use and saying you were the first one to use it publicly. It also discloses the exclusiveness of using this logo before others on the market.
Application pieces of evidence include the following;
– Label’s invoices that you have used for each year.
– Evidence in the form of newspaper advertisements, posters, flyers, or something of testament mass distribution.
– Presence of digital media with the inclusion of websites and other outlets advertising brand named products and services.
– Non-printed promulgated content such as TV or internet ads, radio ads, and social media images, so on and so forth.
– Legal trademark registration certificate is also robust evidence.
In conclusion.
Branding is important to achieve brand sustainability and awareness, that’s why you should remain vigilant against any possible contravention of your brand. Formulate a differentiating element via trademark and employ IP experts to safeguard it, as do inventors capable of creating copyrights. The idea is not to allow any external brand to penetrate.
