A trademark is a distinctive sign or words, or a combination of these, that identifies the provider of goods or services and distinguishes them from the goods or services of other businesses. It is a ‘guarantee of origin’. To be distinctive, a trademark must do more than merely use terms that describe the nature of the goods or services that it is used for. There should be some noticeable, even if small, bit of creativity. Trademarks can include letters, numbers, words (including names or invented words), shapes, colours, sounds, logos, slogans and more.

Registered trademarks give you exclusive legal rights, underpinned by legislation. These rights make it easier for you to use your trademarks in business and also to protect your trademarks from being infringed by others. This can stop others from marketing competing products or services under identical or similar trademarks or from from marketing unrelated goods or services in a way that takes unfair advantage of a well-known registered trademark. In short, registered trademarks offer better legal protection than unregistered rights, saving you time, money and commercial embarrassment.

As with most business transactions, the key is preparatory work. There are serious pitfalls to avoid to ensure that your registered trademark properly protects your business assets. By carrying out a reliable trademark search, you can avoid problems registering your trademark and costly infringement disputes. Most questions are basic, such as owner details, reproductions of the trademark and the type of trademark. You should select if you are applying to register a series of trademarks to save trademark office fees, or relying on an earlier application date, which could be vital. At the core of your trademark rights will be the classes of goods and services and the description of protected goods and services that you specify. Take care, ‘do-it-yourself’ applicants do go wrong, ending up with faulty protection. Although, it may not be asked, you should identify any parts of the trademark that you do not claim exclusive rights over, such as common or descriptive words. Lastly, if you are late paying the correct fee then you will lose your application date.

Registered trademarks are normally protected for ten years, but the registration can be renewed indefinitely every ten years. For example, the Bass brewery red triangle has been protected as a registered trademark in the UK since 1875.

Because registered trademarks rely on the legislation and international agreements that underpin them, they are protected in the countries where they are registered. Well-known trademarks may also be protected, even if not registered, if they have a reputation in a particular country. An Irish trademark covers the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is included in UK trademarks, which also cover England, Scotland and Wales. The Community Trademark provides protection in all 27 Member States of the EU. The Madrid System for international trademark protection offers a selection of over 90 member states globally that can be selected in a single application.

In Ireland the trademark application process takes six months if it all runs smoothly with no objections raised. This can increase to up to two years or so depending on the attitude that the Irish Patents Office or other trademark holders take to the application. It takes about the same time to register a Community Trademark. It is quicker to register a UK trademark, about four months.

The well-known symbols displaying ownership of a trademark are ™ and ®. The ™ symbol indicates that a trademark is claimed, whether it is a registered trademark or not. The ® symbol is only used for registered trademarks.

Unregistered rights might be protected if you can prove that someone is passing off their goods and services as yours. You will need to establish a goodwill and reputation in your business; that a competitor is misrepresenting their goods or services as yours deceiving the public; and that your trading activities are being damaged. All three issues must be proven and it can be a costly, time consuming and a commercially sensitive exercise to obtain the evidence needed from your customers to prove your case.