Trademarks protect a startup’s brand name, logo, and other intellectual property, ensuring that competitors cannot copy or imitate them. ~ Ryan Flannagan, CEO and Founder, Nuanced Media
From helping keep your originality to preventing losses in money later on, here are 12 answers to the question, “Can you share the most helpful reasons trademarks are important for startups?”
- Helps Avoid Replicating Another Brand
- Increases Your Valuation When Seeking Investors
- Protects From Copycats
- Creates Brand Recognition
- Makes You Stand Out Among Competition
- Meets Legal Requirements
- Gives You Exclusive Commerce Rights
- Circumvents Domain Name Issues
- Prevents Rebranding Costs:
- Adds a Perk for Workers to Sign Up
- Imparts a Lifetime Worth
- Creates Quality and Prevents Financial Losses.
Helps Avoid Replicating Another Brand
The general notion behind a trademark is to protect your brand’s name, logo, tagline, colors, and design. But what’s more important is that when you register your business trademark, you also learn if your ideas are not a replication of another existing brand.
Now, it is understandable that your ideas may seem unique and original to you. Nevertheless, it is always possible that a brand very similar to yours already exists. If this is true and you go ahead without knowing of this, you may very well violate existing trademark laws.
So, before you finalize the details of your startup brand, it is best to register your trademark so you can strike this risk off the list.
Riley Beam, Managing Attorney, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.
Increases Your Valuation When Seeking Investors
If you’ve ever watched an episode of Shark Tank, then you know that intellectual property (IP) has value. Investors like to see that you have something that someone else sees as valuable. If your IP is good enough for the USPTO to grant a trademark, it’s an indicator that your brand is unique.
Additionally, the trademark helps create a “walled garden” that helps to protect their investment, because they know that it can help limit competition from people who will seek to mimic your words or design to capture a segment of your potential customers.
Dennis Consorte, Digital Marketing and Leadership Consultant for Startups, Snackable Solutions
Protects From Copycats
Startups have the unique challenge of everything being important, seemingly all the time. Trademarks are one of those things that can get lost in the shuffle. The legal process is a bit dry, and is certainly not as exciting as building or marketing a new product.
Still, trademarks for startups are particularly valuable because of the likely number of potential copycats that will pop up once the startup sees any success.
Trevor Ewen, COO, QBench
Creates Brand Recognition
From my experience, I can attest that trademarks are important for startups for at least one key reason: brand recognition. When you create a unique logo or slogan to represent your company, it immediately sets you apart from your competitors in the market and lets potential customers know who you are. This helps them develop trust in your business and makes it easier for them to recognize and remember you.
So, startups should not neglect the importance of trademarks. They should consult a trademark attorney or a reputable trademark registration service to help navigate the complex and ever-changing trademark laws and regulations. It may cost some money upfront, but it can save a lot of headaches, legal fees, and lost revenue down the road.
Remember, in today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, a strong and recognizable brand identity can be your biggest asset. Don’t let others take it away from you. Protect it, own it, and use it to dominate your market.
Maria Harutyunyan, Co-founder, Loopex Digital
Makes You Stand Out Among Competition
Trademarks help startups to stand out from the competition and differentiate their products or services. A good trademark can create a strong brand identity that customers recognize and remember, which helps to build customer loyalty and trust in the company.
A strong trademark also gives entrepreneurs an exclusive ownership right to the mark, helping them protect their brand from competitors who might try to use a similar mark to capitalize on their success. In some cases, trademarks can also be licensed or sold, providing an additional source of income for the startup.
Matt Teifke, CEO, Teifke Real Estate
Meets Legal Requirements
Registering a trademark may be a legal requirement in some jurisdictions, particularly if you want to do business internationally. Failing to register your trademark could lead to legal issues down the line, such as infringement lawsuits or difficulty expanding your business into new markets.
By registering your trademark early on, you can ensure that you are meeting all necessary legal requirements and avoiding potential legal problems in the future.
Jake Smith, Managing Director, Private Number Plates
Gives You Exclusive Commerce Rights
As a startup, building a powerful brand is critical for success, and trademarks play a vital role in protecting it. Trademarks are a symbol or word that distinguishes your brand from others, and registering them gives you exclusive rights to use them in commerce. Here’s a reason trademarks are essential for startups.
Trademarks provide legal protection for your brand identity, preventing others from using or imitating it without your permission. This protection extends to logos, names, and other brand elements, ensuring that you have exclusive rights to use them.
In 2018, Adidas filed a lawsuit against Skechers for trademark infringement, claiming that Skechers had copied its signature three-stripe design. The case was settled in Adidas’ favor, with Skechers agreeing to stop using the design.
Himanshu Sharma, CEO and Founder, Academy of Digital Marketing
Circumvents Domain Name Issues
One of the key reasons I believe trademarks are important for startups is that domain names are fundamental to the success of a startup’s online presence. Yet, if a startup uses a name that is close to another business’s name, it may have complications with domain names.
To circumvent these problems, a startup should register its trademark to gain exclusive rights to use its name and to prevent any other businesses from using the same domain name.
Cindi Keller, Communications Coordinator, Criminal Defense Lawyers
Prevents Rebranding Costs
This is why I believe trademarks are so important for new businesses; if a startup finds out that another company is using a confusingly similar name or logo, it may have to rebrand.
Changing your brand’s name, logo, colors, slogan, and all other identifying features can be quite an investment. Filing a trademark early on can help avoid these expenditures by preventing the need for rebranding.
Tim Allen, Director, Oberheiden P.C.
Adds a Perk for Workers to Sign Up
When a company first launches a trademark, I think it must maintain a positive reputation. If a company takes care of its reputation, more people would want to do business with and for it.
This is especially true when growth is planned. The addition of staff is crucial for every firm that hopes to expand. Because of this, having a trademark is essential to get a commercial loan to fund the creation of a necessary budget.
Mathew Bowley, Head of Marketing, Solmar Villas
Imparts a Lifetime Worth
As far as I’m concerned, a trademark is forever and just needs to be renewed every so often. Companies like Pampers and Jacuzzi, which have dominated their industries for decades, are still going strong today and will probably do so for the foreseeable future.
That’s why a company must do its trademark homework to make sure the board doesn’t turn down its application. Thus, it is recommended that you seek the help of a reputable Intellectual Property service provider to assist you with trademarking your company’s name and logo.
Shakzod Khabibov, Founder, Natura Market
Creates Quality and Prevents Financial Losses
Trademarks protect a startup’s brand name, logo, and other intellectual property, ensuring that competitors cannot copy or imitate them. This helps maintain the quality and uniqueness of the startup’s brand identity, which is crucial in building customer trust and loyalty. Trademarks also prevent costly legal battles and financial losses that may arise from infringement issues, which can be detrimental to a startup’s finances and operations. By securing trademarks, startups can safeguard their brand’s value and prevent unnecessary financial waste.
Ryan Flannagan, CEO and Founder, Nuanced Media
