When Should I Trademark My Logo? | Trademark Factory® FAQ

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When Should I Trademark My Logo?

Most businesses have a logo. The question is, when is a good time to get it trademarked and which businesses should bother trademarking their logos and which shouldn’t.

The short answer to this question is found in our own tagline, “If It’s Worth Promoting, It’s Worth Protecting®.” If you are spending a lot of money trying to make sure that your logo is recognized by a lot of people, it means you value it enough. And if you value it enough, then you should value it enough to make sure that you can protect it. So that the short answer.

The longer answer is, different types of businesses do different things with their logos. So if your customers, if your buyers, if your clients, your patients, your guests, however you call people who allow your business to carry on, who give you the money in exchange for the products and services that you offer—if they come into contact with your brand, with your logo, before they buy, if they recognize it physically, then it is very important to protect the logo.

That’s why it’s so important for brick-and-mortar businesses that have street signs to protect their logos because really, that’s what customers see. They walk down the street and they see a street sign with a recognizable logo, and they say, “Oh, I remember seeing this, I remember seeing this in the ad.” So they go and buy from you. So if you have a brick-and-mortar business that has a recognizable logo and you display it on street signs, that’s a great candidate for getting it trademarked right away.

Another one is for icons that are often shared online. That’s why it is so important for all the social media brands to get their logos trademarked. Because people click on them. So something that’s clickable, something that people touch before they interact with the product or the service—that’s super important.

For some other types of businesses, it might be less important. So for example, if you’re an accounting firm and most of your business is done by word-of-mouth and referrals, and people just know you personally, and you just happened to have a logo, that logo is not going to make or break your business because few people actually recognize it because they don’t see it in the ads, they don’t see it on TV or newspaper.

So be reasonable. If people see your logo all the time, if that’s how you build your brand recognition, by all means, go and protect it. But if the only place where people see your logo are the business cards, this is less important. I am not saying don’t do it. If you believe in your brand, if you believe that you can build this into something bigger, that at some point you will be advertising, maybe you’re going to build products that people will recognize through the logo—by all means, get them trademarked. It’s the right thing to do. But if you are having to choose whether or not it’s the right time to do it, these are the consideration you should have in mind.

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