Advantages of trademark protection

Contrary to your perception, trademark protection is crucial, and stealing the trademarks of other businesses can have serious legal and financial repercussions. These are a few of the important factors that make trademark protection important.

It assists in avoiding fakes.

It is possible to choose to leverage an existing brand to corner the market or to damage a company's reputation by employing fake trademarks. Competitors or new clubs looking to break into the market may be the ones to do this most heavily. Therefore, trademark protection is crucial to preserving the club's reputation and holding onto the market.

It eases tracking of goods.

If there is need to track the movement of good from the producer to the consumer or vice versa, it becomes easier. Taking an example of putting club logos on bills and tickets, it is easier to track if there arose any problems with the bills. We can also track sources of drinks we deal in.

It gives a legal protection from other firms.

Having a protected trademark provides the company with legal protection as it gives you the right to deter competitors from dealing with your branded product. It gives you the power to control the market of your goods. (Offner, 2007)

Taking a look at a few case studies on cases involving trademark conflicts;

First; D2 Holdings v. House of cards. D2 Holdings has taken a lawsuit against Netflix TV show House of Cards for allegedly taking the trademark of “entertainment, goods, and services” which they claim belongs to a radio show hosted by Gary Media. The case is still pending verdict but it can be observed that the company distributing House of Card has already lost so much time and resources.

Another example is 3M V.3N which happened in China. 3M Company accused 3N of infringement on their trademarks as they had used a trademark that was similar to theirs. 3N lost the case and there was massive damage to 3N. (Calboli, I., Lee, E., &Edward Elgar, 2014)

There are several ways of acquiring trademark protection which is majorly legal. It is worth noting that there are non-legal ways of protecting trademarks which majorly rely on proper marketing and creating an image in the market. These non-legal means are however not fireproof as they have no protection from the state. The different ways of acquiring trademark protection include;

Common law trademark.

This is a way that does not use registration by the government but rather by use of the mark. Mark is a design, sign or expression distinguishing products from the other and it only applies as a trademark in the area of operations. This method, however, is not very secure.

State registration.

This involves registering your logo or any other trademark with the secretary of the state by filling the necessary documents and papers. It is more secure than common law trademarks.

Federal registration.

This is the most secure way of protecting your trademark. This calls for keenness as you have to ensure you have a unique logo. Registration involves a long process. It gives a worldwide protection from other companies. (Wilson, 2013)

I, therefore, call upon you to consider these means in your choice of protection and make the appropriate choice for the club.

References

Offner, E.D. (2007). International trademark protection. New York

Calboli, I., Lee, E., &Edward Elgar Publishing. (2014). Trademark protection and territoriality challenges in a global economy. Cheltenham, U.K: Edward Elgar.

Wilson, L. (2013). The trademark guide: A friendly handbook to protecting and profiting from trademarks. New York: Allworth Press.