If your company has a logo, you can use the symbol ™, together with your logo to receive limited intellectual property protection. In effect, the use of the symbol tm will in effect inform the rest of the world that you claim ownership over your logo, and any attempt by let’s say competition to use your logo or a very similar log to sell products and services similar to the ones that your company is selling, will be regarded as breach of your intellectual property rights.

 The use of the tm will in effect stop your competition from taking your logo and attempting to pass off their own products as being authentic. We lawyers call this ‘passing off’. However, to gain th trademark protection described above against passing off, the trademark must have been used enough to establish a reputation. In order to be successful in a passing off action you will need to establish three elements:

1. Firstly, you must have established goodwill in the trademark which essentially means that you must have built up a reputation in the mark through constant use. For example, ‘Nike’, this trademark was used for a substantial amount of time and now everyone in the sports industry (as well as the rest of the world) knows about ‘Nike’ trademark and what it stands for due to the fact that it was used for so long on high quality products.
2. Secondly, you must be able to prove that there has been a misrepresentation by the “alleged infringer”. An example of this would be that the people who infringed your trademark took your trademark and used it on their products without your permission i.e. using the ‘Nike’ trademark on trainers that are not Nike.
3. Thirdly, you will need to prove that, as a result of the misrepresentation, your goodwill, or reputation have been damaged. This is generally not difficult to establish.

 If you can show the above then you can potentially claim damages against the infringing party on account of the profits you have lost as a result of the infringement of your trademark. You can also obtain an injunction to stop the infringing party form passing off your trademark.

The best thing you can do to acquire this type of trademark protection is to use your mark through a long period of time and on a variety of products which means that the sooner you start using the symbol TM on your products the better. We aware however that not all logos and names can be trademarked in such as way so it is best to obtain full legal advice on the trade markability of your proposed design. The use of the simple TM does not give a full legal shield or full protection against theft from competitors. It is recommended to be used as a temporary and cost effective measure.

To obtain the full legal shield you will need to go through the process of registering your trademark and obtaining ® status. Trademarks can be registered in any country of the world at the local trademark office. The process takes approximately 6 months to complete and then you are fully protected from any legal attacks on your unique brand from begrudging competitors.