Trade mark

Sole proprietors or legal entities, to personalize a good or a service use a trademark.

The trademark’s prototype appeared in 5th – 4th century BC with the invention of trade, when goods began to be made not only for personal use, but for trade purposes as well. During this period craftsman made different signs and emblems on their goods to show who produced them and where.

Through the centuries people have been improving their skills and passing them over to their inheritors. Every master was responsible for his stamped good. During 9th -12th century some masters became very famous whereas there goods were highly estimated. In 1266 Great Britain, a law was published obliging every master to mark a product produced so that the customers could find bad product producer.

The First Trademark law (similar to the present one) was also published in Great Britain (1875). This law gave to the owner of the registered mark monopoly rights and judicial defense rights of this trademark. The government was forced to publish this law, because of a high percent of identical products appearing and usage of similar trademarks by unfair producers to raise prestige and to leapfrog competitors.

Nowadays Russia has no legal notion of a trademark. In the law «About trade signs» 1992 such terms as «trade sign» or « service sign» are used.

Trademark can consist of a word label or graphic symbol, picture or illustration, dimensional or combined. (Coca –Cola, for instance, uses their original bottle forms). Trademark is an essential part of corporate identity. Trademark makes a company stand out, links emotions and associations with it, and makes it stay in customer’s memory for a long time.

Trademark can become a symbol of quality and prestige and very often explain the high price of your good or service.

Trademark can be registered or not, but only registered mark is protected from illegal copying. Special databases can check your trademark on individual content. Trademark is an intellectual property and intangible asset of your company that can be sold or used as a franchise.