This is a common concern when starting a franchise
business of a popular brand. Even for a franchise business, it is important to
protect intellectual property. In this competitive market, trademarks play a
vital role. With the help of trademarks, customers will identify goods and
services that your company caters to. Also, this is a means to stand out among
the rest and maintain your identity in the market. These are equally applicable
in opening a franchise business as required to look after its reputation. Even
the business name of a franchise should be protected, and it should not be used
by third parties.
Understanding
trademark before applying it in a franchise system
Either a brand name or a business name can be a
trademark. So, you have to follow a few considerations when choosing trademark
names. It can be a word, name or a logo. It should be such that customers get
to know about the kind of goods that the business caters to. So, these
trademarks are also required in a franchise system to protect the names. This
can prevent unfair competition and misuse by third parties.
Can the
franchise business be trademarked?
It should be known that every franchise business can
be trademarked. Even after using the brand name in running the franchise
business, it may not be protectable by means of using registered trademarks.
Also, descriptive names are not suitable for trademarking. However, in this
regard, for further assistance, you can visit Trademarks411.com site to grasp better idea into trademarking of a
franchise business. In case of a common trademark name, you are unable to
protect it under trademark laws.
But suggestive trademarks that hint about service or
goods sold are often trademarked. Here again, there is a risk of the trademark
laws to reject the same as being descriptive instead of suggestive.
However, the highest level of protection even in a
franchise business is given to the out-of-the-box trademark names as these
products have are not connected with franchise system products. When some two
very uncommon words from two different genres are used, these are
trademarked. You are sure to get several
instances of it when you go through the Trademarks411.com site.
What is the
necessity of registering for franchise system trademarks?
Though trademark registration should not be
considered as mandatory, registration of franchise trademark helps you exercise
legal right on franchise system name. To get nationwide rights, you should have
trademarked registered with USPTO or United States Patent and Trademark Office.
This way, you can prevent any other company or person from using your franchise
system name.
However, to ensure that your trademark rights are well protected, you should hire an attorney. The attorney can help you with the trademark registration procedure. If a franchise catering to similar items is already operating in the same area as that of yours, you should get a trademark registered. This will help you deal with any kind of infringement problems in the long run.