When we start partnerships with new Clients, they often admit to us that the registration of a Trademark was not, until then, one of their priorities, having instead opted to develop the product or implement a specific service for the consumer.

 

When the product or service reaches the development level intended by its creator, the latter initiates the protection process of the Trademark it has been using to identify the assets which it has been placing on the market.

 

At this point a pertinent question arises: What is the real value of registering a Trademark?

 

The answer, albeit simple, will not be easy to accomplish in just a few words. In a simplified way, from a legal perspective, the registration of a Trademark confers on its owner the exclusive monopoly right to the sign it has associated to its product or service.

 

This monopoly, which can be renewed indefinitely, allows to prevent third parties or potential competitors from registering similar Trademarks for identifying goods or services that may have a relevant proximity to those covered by the Trademark previously registered.

 

Such conduct will strengthen said exclusiveness, without erosion resulting from the existence of later Trademark registrations which may be confused therewith.

 

From a sociological perspective, a Trademark allows to develop a strong relationship between the consumer and the product or service, a relationship that is as much or even more solid than the quality perceived by the consumer.

 

So, it is in the combination of these two perspectives that we can find the true value of registering a Trademark: The ability to impede the emergence of competing marks sharing similar characteristics with a previously registered Trademark and that aim at producing, in consumers’ mind, the inability to distinguish said marks from the Trademark they already know, that identifies the product or service they actually wish to acquire.

 

In this connection, we can understand Trademark Registration as a form of shielding, through its sign, the product or service that is being marketed, enabling its owner to control, to a certain degree, the market in which it operates and which presents more profitable for its business model.

 

The registration of a Trademark with the characteristics mentioned above can only be fully achieved if such registration process is followed, from the very beginning, by a professional who may combine technical and legal knowledge with the sensitivity necessary to read/understand the market.

 

In Industrial Property, success is always based on prior advice and on the development of strategies for implementing Clients’ assets in the market so as to strengthen them from the very outset. This is the commitment of A.G. da Cunha Ferreira, Lda. since its foundation.

26 February 2021