Living in a society in which everyone wants to excel, company’s owners cannot stay behind. In the business world, everyone is ‘racing’ to shine and be recognised. However, having a successful business entails some adverse implications. Living in a society where business competition is fierce, every company needs to take its reputation seriously so as to ‘survive’ and be recognised positively. If you are a fashion designer, author or any kind of businessman and you have worked hard to build your ‘brand’, it will be a shame to be adversely affected by imitators.  So, what should you do when competitors are trying to ‘get in your territory’,  for instance by copying your figurative mark or your wordmark. Here is where Intellectual Property Law comes into place and provides business owners or individuals with the ability to protect their goodwill from adverse implications. Registering a figurative mark or a wordmark enables a business to protect their goodwill from being confused as somebody’s else, who is likely to take unfair advantage of an already established successful brand.

Failing to register your logo and/or wordmark as a trademark it will be more difficult to defend your brand in cases of being used by competitors. You will need proof that your brand has a specific level of reputation in court. In practice these types of claims are both expensive and hard to succeed.

As a result registering your wordmark and/or logo as trademark entails many advantages, such as:

• your brand’s reputation will be protected from competitors;
• you will use your trademark exclusively to the country or countries that it has been registered;
• you will have a right to prevent misuse of your brand by others once registered;
• you can deter others from using a similar/identical mark in relation to similar/identical goods and/ or services;
• your brand would be capable of distinguishing and identifying its source of origin;
• consumer welfare will be enhanced since a registered trademark guarantees the quality of the product or service;
• it is the only way to guarantee legal exclusivity
• the trademark itself will be a quantifiable asset with monetary value;
• the trademark constitutes a form of property, therefore it can be bought, sold and licensed;
• a registered trademark attracts consumers through its presentation, marketing and advertising;
• by registering your trademark constitutes from itself a promotion of innovation; and
• your brand will be protected against confusion, free-riding as well as dilution.

Consequently, Intellectual Property Law and specifically the law surrounding trademarks is a crucial weapon to every individual and businessman who has managed to build the reputation of their business and it is essential both to be protected against fierce competition as well as enhance your business to a whole new level.