A crucial part of building your business’s brand is designing a distinctive logo. A logo will often be the first point of recognition a customer has when it comes to a business, meaning that protecting it is a big part of protecting your overall brand. In this article, we’ll explain the legal considerations behind developing and trademarking your logo.
What’s in a logo?
Just as your business’s name is a formative part of your brand, so too is your logo. Your business’s logo is the image which will appear everywhere – on your website, marketing materials, advertisements and communications. As your business grows, so too will recognition of your business’s logo. If you’re not sold on the power of a logo, just think about some of the best know logos in the world. For example, the Nike tick can be recognised by almost anyone, anywhere. A good logo traverses language and borders, and can be recognised globally.
Your business’s logo should reflect the font, colour scheme and tone your business wants to convey. Many business’s use their name as their logo, but many bigger brands use a symbol, or the business’s name interposed on the symbol. By doing this, brands can be recognised in almost any context.
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Get startedDesigning your logo
What do you want your logo to represent? What do you want people to think of when they see your logo? These are all important questions to answer before you design your logo. Designing the perfect logo for your business can seem like a difficult task. If graphic design isn’t your forte, you can design your logo easily online using tools such as DesignCrowd.
Protecting your brand
Once you’ve designed your logo, it’s time to protect it. If your logo has been designed externally, you should make sure that all intellectual property rights to the logo have been assigned to you. You can ensure the logo is legally yours by using an Assignment of Intellectual Property Agreement. Once you’ve confirmed that the rights to the logo belong to your business, it’s time to protect it. Trademarking your logo is the best way to do this, and will give you legal options if someone else:
- Copies your logo
- Misuses your logo
- Uses your logo without your permission
It’s also wise to register trademarks for every iteration of your logo, along with your business’s name and slogan. A trademark is usually valid for 10 years before it’s expiry. If you have further questions about applying for a Trademark, we recommend that you get in touch with a Trademark Lawyer.
