24by7Article.com | A Short Guide On Trademarks and Trademark Law

Trademarks are what businesses use to identify their products to consumers. The Nike swoosh is a well known trademark that easily identifies the manufacturer's products. A trademark can be a symbol, a word or a phrase. However, unique packaging or product shape can also qualify as a legal trademark. The law protects all trademarks. Federal and state laws all protect against trademark infringement. Through trademark law a manufacturer can protect intellectual property owned by him. Intellectual property is understood as intangible property such as information contained in a book, songs, or even poems. Any person who violates such property or abuses it is liable to face a trademark infringement suit. Intellectual property law works pretty much like trademark law. Both offer a way of providing legal ownership to pieces of intangible property.

If anyone abuses a trademark or uses it without the consent of the owner, then they are liable to be sued for trademark infringement. However, in order for a piece of intellectual property to fall under the protective umbrella of trademark law, it has to be distinctive. It needs to be associated solely with the product it seeks to sell or identify. The same goes for items that seek the protection of intellectual property law. If it is a jingle, slogan or word, it must be easily identifiable to the common man. This simply means that a trademark must be solely associated with a particular product. If it can be associated with more than one product, then protecting it under the trademark law or intellectual property law will be hard.

These are the grounds under which many trademark infringement lawsuits either succeed or fail. Courts have noted that all trademarks must be arbitrary, fanciful, descriptive, or suggestive so as to enjoy protection under trademark law. As for other pieces of intellectual property, they must be at least arbitrary to be shielded from abuse by intellectual property law. The Apple computer logo, which has no relation to computers, is a good example of an arbitrary trademark. This qualifies it for protection under trademark law.

How can a person get trademark law protection? How can a piece of intangible property get protected by the law? There are two main methods that an individual or a company can employ to get trademark law protection or intellectual property law protection. The first method is using trademark attorney Miami offices to register a trademark in the U.S Patent and Trademark Office. Once a trademark has been registered with this office, then it becomes the legal property of the entity that owns it. Anyone who abuses this property or uses it without the consent of the owner will be committing trademark infringement. A court of law has the power to put an end to such infringements. The second way that a person can get trademark law protection is by being the first person to use the trademark. Let’s say that a stationery manufacturer has been using a pen logo to identify his products from his competitors. No one uses the logo, or has used the logo previously. This custom awards the manufacturer ownership of the pen logo and no one can use it.