• to give a short, simple insight into the world of trade marks;
• to provide some basic guidance to help you decide whether or not applying for trade mark registration is the right thing for you to do; and
• to outline the procedure for registering a trade mark.

In all matters regarding intellectual property you are recommended to take professional advice.

Trade marks are signs which are used to distinguish the goods or services of one business from those of another. In this context, the word “sign” is used very broadly. Although most trade marks are words or logos or combinations of the two, other forms such as three- dimensional shapes, combinations of colours and even sounds may be, and indeed are, used as trade marks.

Trade marks can be considered as essentially indications of the origin of a particular product or service. The formulation or make-up of many products sold under a particular trade mark may well vary as time goes by, but the trade mark will remain unchanged. For example, the compositions of most well-known washing powders have been changed many times over the years but they are still sold under the same trade mark. Trade marks are therefore a most important means of protecting the reputation and goodwill that a business has built up. The reputation and image of most products and services is a result of a whole range of different factors such as quality, customer satisfaction, availability, advertising, competition and so on. But, whatever has gone into the creation of the reputation or image it is invariably encapsulated in the mind of the customer, or end-user, by the trade mark. It has been said that it is in the trade mark that all your marketing investment resides. It is for these reasons that trade marks are, for most businesses, the single most valuable marketing tool that they possess. It makes sense to protect anything that is valuable and, in the case of your trade marks, you do this most effectively by registration.

If you are going into business and think you will need a trade mark, how do you go about choosing one? You will not be surprised to learn that there is no single “best way” of creating a trade mark.
There are a number of factors you should always bear in mind. Examples of such factors are:

• What kind of image do you wish to create in the market place?
• What types of marks do your competitors use?
• If your trade mark is a word - even a made-up word such as KODAK - does it have a different, silly or obscene meaning in other languages in countries where you intend to market your product or service?
• Is the mark distinctive (made-up words are usually distinctive)?
• Are there any existing marks owned by your competitors which might be confused with the one you wish to use?
• If your product is a consumer item and you decide to use a graphic device as a trade mark, how are your customers going to ask for it?
• Can you devise a trade mark that has some association with the products or service it is intended to identify without being a purely descriptive term?
• Is your trade mark memorable?
• Does your trade mark have some current, fashionable, connotation that could rapidly appear “old-fashioned”?
• For the markets in which you intend to sell, does the colour or combination of colours you may have selected for use in your trade mark have any particular significance?

It is possible that the mark you just created is confusingly similar to, or even the same as, a mark someone else has already registered and/or is using for the same goods or services you intend to use your mark for. It is therefore important to do searches to ensure that you can in fact register your mark (see 'How do I register my trade mark?') and that you do not get any nasty surprises when you start using the mark, such as a letter threatening to sue you for trade mark infringement. It is strongly recommended that you take professional advice about UK and international searching (see 'What is a trade mark attorney?').