"Do I really need a trademark?"

The answer to this question is...

.

.

.

It depends.

“Oh, come on, Maria! Every company needs to register their brand,” some would argue. And as a European Trademark Attorney, I simply must exclaim: “Of course! Here's the invoice for registration.”

However, the truth is:

yes, you need to protect your brand, yet whether you actually need some sort of registration (and which one exactly: where and for what)

depends on your story. 

This is precisely why before I reply to this very popular question of my clients, I prefer to find out their story first; because it is this story that ultimately determines the best possible course of action. You know that there is no one-size-fits-all for anything, right? Why would there be one for intellectual property protection?..

For example, a notary I worked with has no problems with the fact that his logo is not registered. Does he need to register it? He might if he wants to. However, a notary, especially in Belgium, is practicing in a very particular geographic area; his logo contains his name and initials. It is a nice logo, true, but… Which additional value will the registration bring him? In his particular case, a trademark is a nice-to-have but surely not a necessity.

On the contrary,

• if you are trying to differentiate yourself and secure a niche in the red ocean of e-commerce ("full of predators, standing ready to piggyback on your success"); or
• if you are a growing, potentially extremely successful (that’s the goal, right?) start-up with a nice name, logo, and the whole company image enticing to copycats; or
• if you are planning on additional investment rounds; and even maybe one day you hope to sell franchises or license the use of your name/logo to someone to secure an additional cash flow, 

then the benefits of having a trademark for you could be quite tangible (that is to say: go get one fast!)

Besides, in Belgium (like in pretty much all civil law countries), there is no protection for an unregistered trademark*, while the commercial name is offering neither comparable protection nor any other benefits of a registered trademark.

"Okay, but what if I am not a technological start-up,"

you are wondering,

"what if I just have a small shop in a village? What could potentially go wrong if I don't have a trademark?"

Well... Imagine a situation where you have a company named, say... "Fashion Kat”. You have a shop somewhere in Sint-Niklaas, and you sell fancy fashionable outfits for furry friends under this name. You are doing great and planning to open another shop in Antwerp. However, for this or that reason, you decided not to register your trademark. In the meantime, someone else did, whether struck by the same inspiration-fairy or just planning to ride on your success. As a result, you can find yourself in a nasty situation when the owner of a trademark could prevent you from using your own dear name “Fashion Kat” for the products you offer.**

Thus, the bottom line is: while trademark registration is not obligatory, nor is it by definition value-adding for everyone, still there are many (many-many) situations when it is a very good idea to have one. Yet, as I said before, it depends on your story. 

So…

what is your story?

Want to chat about the best way to design an IP strategy for your company? Feel free to drop me a message at [email protected]

Starks: your best legal sparring partner for all IP and trade-related matters

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* aside from Art 6bis of the Paris Convention for the well-known ones.

** This is a black-and-white statement to dramatize a bit. In reality here - it also depends, and most probably your original shop in Sint-Niklaas could still be allowed to exist, however, your expansion plans will definitely be at serious risk. And in general, in the particular situation described: if you don’t have a trademark, trust me, you are not in a good position.