| Let's Learn About Trademarks |  |
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Protected intellectual property or property created by the human mind also includes trademarks and servicemarks. Another name for a trademark is a brand name or a specific name of a product. Trademarks tell you who makes the product. Trademarks can be found on your Nike sneakers, or on the can of Coca-Cola you drink at dinnertime. It can be the medicine you take when you are sick like Tylenol, or it can be the name of the car you drive like Lexus. Nike, Coca-Cola, Tylenol and Lexus are all trademarks. “Trademarks are foundations of competition for businesses and signify the freedom of choice to consumers." What this means is that people who buy things may choose to buy a brand they trust over one they never heard of. Businesses compete or try to win over the buyer by producing the best product for the best price. A servicemark is the same thing as a trademark but it applies to a service or work that is done for you by someone else. An example would be the company H.R. Block that sells a service to help people prepare their tax returns. Trademarks are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and protect both the producer (maker of goods) and consumer (buyer of goods). They protect the producer by not allowing anyone else to use a certain brand name, which in turn, protects the consumer from being misled as to the manufacturer or maker of the product. You can tell if a brand name, phrase or even a symbol is protected by registered trademark if you see this symbol ™. Once a trademark is registered, it can be renewed forever. However, over time some trademarks become lost and cannot be renewed because they have become so common or generic that they are used to refer to the product instead of the brand name. An example of a lost trademark is “Cellophane”, which is now used to identify the product plastic food wrap. The inventor of “Cellophane” lost the trademark. Trademarks
have been around for a very long time. |
