#1 Trademark
Whenever you purchase something, there are several trademarks of that product in your mind.
For example:
Do you use OLA or Uber?
Do you Use Swiggy or Zomato?
Do you purchase Surf Excel or Tide?
Do you purchase Coca-cola or Pepsi?
Do you purchase Nike or Reebok shoes?
Whenever you view a product or service as a consumer, there is a trademark or logo in your mind. All the above-mentioned names in the example are trademarks.
It means these are the mark for businesses to do trade. It is their stamp to do the trade.
You recognise them due to this stamp because they have made it famous. They have made a product and make it reachable to various places, and the users used it.
So, it is very important to have a trademark..
#2 Trademark Benefits
There are various benefits of a trademark. You are a startup or middle-level company and you had not a trademark yet.
The benefits of doing trademark registration and the risks of not doing trademark registration are discussed below:
1. Exclusive rights: It involves the following:
It means if you make a product or brand and give it a trademark, name, or logo, then it becomes exclusive and nobody else can copy or use it.
Gradually, when you will invest in the brand or trademark and do advertisements through a newspaper or digital marketing then people would able to recognise and they will also feel related to it.
They will get to know what this trademark is and the product they are getting under the trademark.
2. Builds trust and Goodwill:
For example:
You go to a shop and directly say to give the Surf Excel, Nirma, or the Colgate toothpaste.
This is due to trust and goodwill.
You have the trust that you want:
Colgate toothpaste
Pepsi
Surf excel
Trademark develops trust. The developed brand name or trademark make customers feel connected.
You feel very good when your shoes have a swoosh sign of NIKE that is their trademark.
All these things build up trust in the consumers. You benefit by taking a trademark as it develops your trust in your consumers.
3. Product differentiation: It means the product gets different from others.
For example:
Anybody can open a small shop or manufacturing unit and start making utensils washing powder. Consumers may not purchase the product as it is new and not differentiated.
You as a consumer have a Vim bar in your mind because this is a differentiated product.
You also know that it will not have some problem as you squeeze it and it makes the utensils shine.
It means a product is differentiated from other products.
4. Recognition of quality: When you make a trademark, it reaches people, they give you feedback, and you make your product better. This gives the impression that you give good quality products.
For example:
When you go to purchase shoes and purchase Nike shoes, it means you know that the quality of Nike shoes is good.
When you purchase Pears soap in place of the normal brand, it means you know that Pears soap has a good fragrance.
This is due to the quality differentiation done by trademark.
Customers know in their mind that a specific trademark or stamp of the product stands for quality.
For example:
Cadbury faced a problem some time ago because some insects found in their chocolates.
After that, they conducted a PR and showed how the brand makes the chocolate.
Mr. Amitabh Bachchan appointed as its brand ambassador.
If some problem or lapse occurs in the quality of the product, then it takes time to improve the quality and the trademark.
So, the trademark gets associated with quality. As the product quality improves the trademark gets bigger and leaves an impact on the mind of people.
5. Creation of asset: You always have in your mind that gold, silver, real estate, shop, or house for rent owned by you are your assets. All of these are physical assets.
Trademark is an intangible asset that means you cannot touch it or see it. It is the reputation of the company.
For example:
You might have seen that a company having assets of Rs. 100 crores is sold for Rs. 800 crores.
Why there is an extra value of Rs. 700 crore?
It is because the company had a reputation, trademark. Brand loyalty and people follow it.
You get this by completely focusing on trademark and your trademark becomes the asset. You can do assets monetisation of it shortly.
People in India have the habit of purchasing physical assets after paying money. This is why they feel that they are getting nothing by investing in the trademark.
Whatever you are investing in the trademark, it will give you recurring income because your product will be sold more if your trademark reaches the people and they like it as you made a good quality product.
This is due to the trademark that your product will sell more and in the future, the trademark can also be sold giving you a huge value.
So, the trademark is also an asset.
6. Use of R symbol: It involves the following:
You might have seen a small R symbol ® written on the top of brand names. It means the trademark is registered.
As the R symbol is shown with the trademark, it builds up more faith in the customers as this is a registered company and trademark.
It means their product will be good, not bad. You can see the R with Pepsi or Coca-Cola. This is the registered trademark.
The registered trademark increases the faith and belief of the customers. If the trademark is not registered, then customers would not be able to find that the product is genuine or not.
7. Protection against infringement: You might have seen that many people try to copy other products.
For example:
KANT RO may be written in place of KENT RO by giving the same design as the original product.
Adidas is written as Adydas by the people making a copy of the original product.
There are so many copy cats who infringe the trademark. They think that just shoes are required to manufactured and print the symbol of other renowned brands such as the symbol of Adidas.
People try to infringe the products having a good brand name.
If your trademark is registered under the law, then you get infringement protection.
It means nobody can copy the trademark of your brand as the owner of the brand or trademark has the rights of trademark.
If somebody infringes the trademark then you can directly file a lawsuit against the person or the company.
For example:
Bada Business Professor Ramesh Agarwal has a company Agarwal Packers and Movers Ltd.
Many people tried to copy his brand by giving names such as Real Agarwal Packers and Movers, Original Agarwal Packers and Movers, and Agarwala Packers and Movers.
He got the trademark of his company registered and along with he also gave his photo. This distinguished the brand.
The problem of infringement generally occurs as others want to establish on your efforts.
Your efforts can be wasted in the absence of a registered trademark.
The trademark should be registered as nobody can infringe your product and if somebody does it you can sue the person in court and close his business.
8. Create a Franchise:
For example:
McDonald’s used to be a small shop in 1950 and currently they have approx. 70000 restaurants across the world.
They got the M as a trademark registered. They also improved their product and service quality. They licensed their trademark and then opened its franchise in various small and big places.
You can franchise your trademark or distribute it and earn a recurring or royalty income means whatever sales will be done at the stores then 2% - 3% will be the commission of the franchisor.
For example:
If 70000 stores will do sales, then it means 70,000 × 3% may give you approx. 2 Lakh of royalty.
Although franchisor takes a small portion you get a big base.
When you have to make your business big then you should have a strong trademark because based on the trademark you can franchise in the future.
9. Global trademark registration: If you get a trademark registered in India, then you can get it registered in foreign also.
You can get the benefit of trademark registration globally. Nobody in any corner of the world can copy your brand.
For example:
Nobody can copy McDonald's or Subway.
Their trademarks or logos are completely protected and due to this protection, they do not face any problem.
When you get a trademark registered in India, you also get global protection. Only you need to pay a little fee. You will regret it in the future when your brand gets big.
Golden Statement: Don’t save costs at any cost.
It means to save a little money today do not sacrifice or compromise the future growth of your business because you may face a problem if somebody gets registered the trademark before you.
10. Big brands attract people: When your business has a logo and an established trademark, then people want to join and work with you.
For example:
IIM, Ahemdabad students want to work with big brands and logos like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, MasterCard, and American Express.
With the help of a trademark, you attract good people to work in your company.
For example:
Bada Business has established as a big trademark and organisation that people send their CVs to connect with the company.
Never compromise on the trademark. Find out good lawyers or experts to know the process of filing the trademark.
Golden Statement: Trademark is the mark of your business.
You have to leave the mark of your business, so, it is very important to have a trademark.
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