Did you know your brands are your trademarks?

When you use something as a brand – company name, product name, logo, tagline – it becomes a trademark.

Your legal right to use your brand, and your ability to stop someone else from using it, come from trademark law. Even if you don’t register your brand as a trademark.

How you use your trademarks determines their value.

You invest a lot in the brands that represent your company and your products to the world.

But are you maximizing their potential value by using your trademarks correctly?

Or worse – are you at risk of losing rights in your trademarks by using them incorrectly?

Did you know that ELEVATOR, ASPIRIN, and CELLOPHANE were once protected under trademark law but lost that protection because of improper use? True story!

How to protect your investment

  • Repeatedly using your trademark as a noun or verb erodes your ability to keep others from using that trademark.
  • Allowing others to use your trademark without a license can also result in your inability to keep others from using that trademark. (Ask us how to discover who’s using your trademarks.)
  • Registering your trademarks both expands and strengthens your rights to use and protect them.
  • Registered trademarks must be used exactly as they appear in an application or registration. ACME! is a different trademark than ACME.
  • Using the TM, SM, and ® symbols correctly is crucial!

Learn more at How to Use Trademarks Correctly
(so you don’t lose rights)