What Can Be Trademarked?

Trademark Services FAQs

Due to the fact that a company’s intangible assets is broad, abstract, and, ultimately, intangible, the process of protecting intellectual property raises a great deal of questions. For example, what are trademarks? How do you get one? Why does a company need one for protection? How does this protection even work?

In this regard, intellectual property management is all about assessing what is most valuable to your company, and what about your company is most worthy of being protected. For this reason, understanding exactly what can—and should—be trademarked is the first step towards the level of security, support, and success that a company needs to survive in the business world of today.

Therefore, because trademarks are the only way that intellectual property can truly be monitored for success, understanding the trademarking types and qualifications is the key to understanding how an experienced IP lawyer can launch your own company to success as well.

Defining Intangible Assets and Intellectual Property

Trademarks are basically designs, words, symbols, sounds, colors, or slogans that distinguish a company’s products and services, and, therefore, are basically brands that are legally protected from infringement or theft.

Intellectual property, or intangible assets, is the primary thing that gets trademarked today. The types of intellectual property that qualify for trademarking by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, are distinctive and distinguishable.

In order for trademarks to be approved, however, they must truly be intangible assets that are completely unique. For this reason, an IP lawyer is often a necessary step in ensuring that your own company’s intangible assets are not generic, ineffective, or even copyrighted as well.

The Different Kinds of Trademarks

For this reason, trademarks themselves often fall into one of four main intellectual property categories: descriptive trademarks, or those that evoke the exact function of a company’s services, suggestive trademarks, or those that hint at a particular quality about a company’s services, arbitrary trademarks, or those that contain words that do not reveal anything about a company’s specific services, and fanciful trademarks, or those that contain logos or words that are completely invented.

Therefore, intellectual property management protects a company’s name, logo, and customer association. For this reason, an IP lawyer is often an essential step when it comes to navigating the trademarking process, and, therefore, ensuring that intangible assets are truly new, effective, and unique.