A logo tends to be a very important part of most brands as it is the design element that is often seen as the ‘face’ of the brand and is therefore most closely associated with the brand in the eyes of the public. Consequently, it is important to ensure that nobody else can ‘piggyback’ off of your brand’s reputation by copying your logo or uses a logo that is similar to yours.
The best way to ensure that your logo is protected is to register it as a trade mark. Assuming that it meets the requirements for registration and is registered, it will be protected by law and it will be a criminal offence for someone else to use it for the same goods and/or services that you have protected it for. This basically means that you have monopoly rights to use your logo to promote and represent your products and services in your particular markets.
The other side of the coin is that you (or your designer) should take care to ensure that any new logo that you create is not the same or similar to that of any other organisation operating in the same or similar markets to you. The last thing that you want to do is spend a great deal of time, money and resources developing a brand identity only to have to remove it because you are infringing someone else’s trade mark.
While there is no requirement to register your Logo as a trade mark, there are certainly advantages to be had from doing so. We would always recommend protecting your brand in as many ways as a practical for your business and that would include the use of registered trade marks.
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