A trademark provides legal protection for a word, symbol, phrase, logo, design, or combination of those that represent a source of goods or services. Almost anything can be a trademark if you indicate the source of your products and services. It can be a word, a slogan, a design, or a combination of these. It can even be a sound, a scent or a color.
A slogan is eligible for brand protection as long as the slogan is inherently distinctive or creative. For example, the American Express slogan “Don't Leave Home Without It” took on secondary meaning in the public eye and was entitled to trademark protection for credit card services. Other examples of slogans entitled to trademark protection are “Where is the meat? and “Do you have milk? A classic example of a fictional character eligible for a trademark is Geico's talking gecko. As long as the character functions as an indicator of the source of your products or services, the character is eligible for trademark protection.
Other examples of fictional characters entitled to trademark protection are “Mickey Mouse”, the shapes of Lego figures and Nintendo characters. All of the above trademark categories demonstrate how words, logos, characters, sounds, colors and smells can be used to distinguish a company from the competition. It is important for companies to be able to register these distinctive marks. Trademarks serve as source identifiers and allow customers to easily distinguish products from multiple suppliers.
The unique nature, quality and reputation of products are included in the geographical indicators (trademark) granted to natural agricultural artisanal products and manufactured products with a geographical origin. You can protect your trademarks by doing more thorough research, which means you need to conduct thorough research while choosing a trademark, which also helps in the trademark registration process. Before reading this section, watch the following overview video that covers the four types of trademarks and what they are used for, the topic of trademarks, and why trademarks are important not only to their owners, but also to the general public. This trademark allows you to distinguish your product from other similar products on the market (from the competition).
One of the major trademarks, words and service marks are used to identify the products and services of a trading company or the company providing services. To better understand the different types of trademarks, I have compiled a list of five classic examples of trademarks. Some examples of trademarks include Nike's “Swoosh” symbol, McDonald's arched “M” and the apple symbol with a small curved bite extracted from it for Apple Computer. Because color was not claimed as a feature of any of the above brands, Coca-Cola may use its trademarks in any color.
Another common type of trademark registered in India is the certification mark, and these trademarks are used to display specific quality standards owned by the company. The USPTO classifies trademarks primarily based on the nature of the product in relation to the brand in question. Failure to do so could result not only in lawsuits, but also in the total dismissal of your trademark registration; both cases result in a considerable loss of revenue. Trademarks are used as logos or symbols, and a different type of trademark is called logos and symbol marks.
The prominent example of these trademark standards for goods and services is the FSSAI, a certification for the specific quality of packaged food products. .