Trademarks are an important part of brand identity and can add significant value to an organisation. For instance, according to Brand Finance, Apple’s brand value in 2020 was estimated to be worth $263,375 million, making it one of the most valuable global brands, followed by Amazon, valued at $254,188 million, and Google, valued at $191,215 million.

What is a trademark?

Typically, a trademark is a distinctive word, phrase or design that distinguishes goods or services of one company from those of another. Trademarks can also consist in the shape of goods, such as Toblerone’s triangular chocolate or Coca-Cola’s curvy glass bottle, colours, symbols (like McDonalds’ golden arches or Adidas’ three stripes), packaging and even sounds like Intel’s “Intel Inside” tone.

Registered v Unregistered Trademarks

While unregistered trademarks are afforded legal protection from unauthorised use, the benefits of registering a trademark far outweigh the costs. A registered trademark gives the owner a number of benefits including the following.

• An immediate legal right to defend against misuse.

• Clear and unambiguous proof of the scope of protection (e.g. the shape/colours of your products, your logo, your name, etc).

• Facilitates classification as an intangible asset (accounting standards like IFRS lay down specific rules for recognition of a trademark as an asset of the company) thus enhancing a company’s equity value.

• Adds legitimacy to the use of the trademark.

• Clearly identifies the owner or owners of a trademark, thereby facilitating the licensing of one’s trademark to third-parties or potentially the sale of such trademark.

• Avoids others from using a name or logo that may be confused with your own, even though such use may not be malicious. Before most businesses decide to use a name, logo or mark they usually run a search on publicly accessible trademark databases such as TMview to determine whether such name, logo or mark are already in use. By registering your trademark, one ensures that their registered trademark appears in any such search results, thereby discouraging the use of similar marks that may be confused with yours. In fact, some company registries in the EU are conveniently linked to their respective national trademark database and will immediately notify a user of any similar names before the company is registered.

• Facilitates the raising of opposition to the use of similar marks. Some intellectual property offices automatically notify registered trademark holders if someone tries to register a similar mark, allowing one to file a notice of opposition.

How much does it cost to register a trademark?

The cost largely depends on the intellectual property office or offices where the trademark is registered. A trademark registered with the EU Intellectual Property Office (EU IPO) costs €850, and is valid across all EU Member States. For trademarks that don’t require EU-wide protection, but require protection at national level, the cost of trademark registration varies depending upon the country of registration, as the following table illustrates.

If international protection is required, the most convenient and cost-effective option is to register your trademark with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) under the Madrid System, which will provide protection across the 122 member countries. However, this does not make sense if the country where protection is desired is not a party to the Madrid Protocol, like Malta for instance.

The cost of international trademark registration under the Madrid System includes a basic fee (653 Swiss francs; or 903 Swiss francs for a mark in color), plus additional costs depending on where you want to protect your mark, and how many classes of goods and services will be covered by your registration. The WIPO’s website offers an online fee estimator for interested parties.

How long is a trademark protected after registration?

Registration of a trademark confers legal protection for a period of 10 years, although this varies in some countries. However, registration may be renewed so trademark protection through registration can last indefinitely. This being said, registration is only the first step in protecting one’s trademark. The number of infringements of registered trademarks show that ongoing monitoring of trademark registers, domain name registrations and new company names is essential for protecting your brand.

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