Trademark Registration: Protecting Your Logo Design

The Starbucks trademark logo.

Question: Is a federal trademark registration the right way to protect a log design?

Answer: It depends…

The answer to this question depends on how you intend to use the mark in commerce. For example, let’s say you develop a logo or design that you and your friends really like and people are asking for a t-shirt that displays the logo. So you now plan on going into business selling t-shirts, sweat shirts, etc., with your logo prominently displayed. But before you do, you want to make sure and protect your logo design. Is trademark the best protection?

Remember, a trademark is an identifier. The mark identifies to the consuming public the producer of a particular product, or in the case of a service mark, the source of a particular service. With use in commerce, it becomes a recognizable logo design which identifies your product or services from those products or services of others. That’s not what the logo design is doing in our t-shirt example. You are not a t-shirt, sweat shirt manufacturer. You are simply purchasing the clothing from another source in order to display your new design. The logo is simply being displayed on the t-shirt, it is artwork.

According to trademark law, subject matter that is merely a decorative feature does not identify and distinguish the business owner’s goods and, thus, does not function as a trademark. You are not using the logo design as a trademark, but as an identifier. I would therefore not advise pursuing trademark protection but instead, apply for copyright registration on the design.

If however, you have a product, and you intend to display the very same new logo on the product, and/or display the new logo design on the product’s packaging as well as the advertising materials for the product, that’s clearly using the logo as a trademark. With continued use in commerce, you are teaching the public that when they see the logo design on a product, or on packaging, or in advertising, that your business is the source of the product. In this case, trademark registration is the right way to protect the design.

Is your name, logo, design actually a trademark, or more ornamentation? The exact same design logo, however, in one example, copyright registration is the answer, and in the second example, trademark registration is the answer. It all depends on how you use the mark in commerce.

Gary Price is an attorney registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. His legal practice includes all areas of Intellectual Property. Mr. Price also provides federal registration services under the business name Trademark Connect. If your business wants to register its brand, then go to TrademarkConnect360.com and learn more about our registration services and our registration Guarantee.

Logo Design Trends – 2016

New logo trends.

What is a logo? Is there any necessity of using logo in your business? A perfect corporate will know the benefits of having a Logo. The Logo is something special that depicts the whole idea of a company in a short picturesque form. The identity a logo creates is unique compared to other brand identities. This is the reason for the upcoming branding companies

Today the world is rediscovering the joy of using colours and effects to create an appealing logo. There is no rule or regulation to design a logo, it is the style that remains memorable. As the technology develops and frequency changes among the people, there will be continuous development and changing trends in Logo design.

Corporate branding companies are competing to design unique and trending logo designs that will retain their customers for a long stay with the firm.

Take a look at the trending logo designs that will rule 2016 in the upcoming months.

Negative Space:

Negative space is an effective logo design that attracts the customers by creating a killer first impression. Negative space is alternative thinking of positive space and an innovative approach in the creative world. It is a space around the object in an image. Negative space defines the boundaries of a positive space and balances the image composition, making a well-designed logo. The emerging designers carve out negative space intentionally which creates stunning logo designs.

Flat design:

Flat design is the most opted logo design by branding companies. Flat design has a clean and elegant appearance on the screen. Due to its SVG, Flat designs registers well on any browsing device. This is a designing principle that supports minimalism and reduces the impression of 3D effect. Flat design keeps a logo clean by removing the drop shadows, textures and gradients, but all the three style blends the design at its depth. One of the hallmarks of Flat design is bold and dynamic colours gives a stunning look and feel of the logo.

Vintage:

Vintage is a retro-design that reminds us the earlier decade. Some designs may come and go, but some will stay with us for decades. Vintage design is back with a bang in 2016. This style suits most of the music clubs, bars, restaurants, etc. where they need to express a nostalgic value. Vintage espouses old look in a new style that works well for certain businesses. Badges, hand drawn, Land and Sea, beer and coffee, line art are some of the design trends in Vintage.

Wordmarks:

Wordmark is a simple but appealing logo design. The art of each font with additional colour palette makes the design more exquisite. Wordmark logo aims to exhibit minimalism and unique approach that recalls the high-value of a business. Wordmark is a self-contained package with an illustrative style that fits into websites or dynamic applications. One of the prominent advantages of the wordmark is, it’s easily scalable than complex designs.

Typography:

A rare new design that may change the design trends of 2016. Typography- use of letters in an imaginative way that will nail out a brilliant logotype. Sometimes, we should survey all the possible measures to create a twist of excellence in the Logo. Arranging the letters in a new format and adding a sense of drama into your creation, make the typography a captivating logo design. In typography a special attention is given on choosing the font style which should be felt as a personalized script style.

Calligraphy or Handwriting:

The calligraphy professionals have a great call this year because handwritten logos will be trending in the upcoming year. Handmade or handwritten logos are considered as an honest form of logo design. Calligraphy is an elegant touch in innovating logos, event invitations and effectively used as a marketing material.

Conclusion:

In the world of design, there are more experiments going on with the upcoming trends. Some trends reach out to a foreseeable future, some trends may fade off in the competition, but the utmost success is designing your masterpiece. Branding companies should focus on implementing the new trends and fill their customers with new surprises in the field of designing. The logos should be efficient to create an impact on the client’s business.