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A trade mark is a sign used to distinguish a particular trader’s goods or services from those of other traders.  As any marketing person will tell you, the selection of an appropriate trade mark can be pivotal to the success of any business venture.  As a trade mark is used commercially, it attracts goodwill and builds a reputation and its intrinsic value increases.  The power of a good brand in the market place is readily apparent if you consider any one of the well-known trade marks and the significant sales and price premiums that are associated with the goods or services sold under that trade mark.

Trade marks can be words, logos, signatures, or letter and/or numeral combinations.  Additional forms of trade marks include aspects of packaging, shapes of products, along with more recent and radical forms of trade marks such as scents, colours and sounds.

Due to the strong sales and price premiums that a well known trade mark can generate, traders are often sorely tempted to use similar or identical trade marks to those used by their competitors.  In such a situation, it may be possible to take legal action to stop such misappropriation through the law of passing off.  However, this type of legal action entails a significant evidentiary burden and hence the preferable route for protecting trade mark rights is to seek a trade mark registration.  Once granted, a trade mark registration prevents others from using a substantially identical or deceptively similar trade mark in relation to the goods and services for which the trade mark is registered.  Legal action for trade mark infringement does not require the trade mark owner to prove that they have established a reputation in the trade mark, or to prove that any customers have been confused.

Unlike patents, there is no limit to the length of time for which a trade mark registration can be renewed.  This means that this type of business asset can theoretically continue to appreciate indefinitely.