A trademark is the identity a business assumes in a market. Any logo, brand-name, meaningless word, label, numerals or colour scheme qualify to be a trademark. Since a business works hard to use these in dealings, it casts quality impression in goods.
Plagiarism of a logo can give rise to civil and criminal actions. To avoid plagiarizing logos, remember trademarks are granted in Spain for 10 years with renewable periods.
Legal Protections for Logos
You can protect a logo through trademark law or intellectual property law. Simply using a trademark does not protect you from someone else using your name or design. Registering the trademark does. If someone uses your name or design, you must prove you created it first.
When your logo is registered with a trademark, you can sue anyone using it without authorization. If two unrelated items with the same name are unlikely to cause confusion, trademark law allows both companies to use the name.
Dealing with Infringement
Your marks set your brand apart, becoming recognizable as your reputation grows. Discovering confusingly similar use can be upsetting. Rather than directly contacting the infringer, follow a systematic protocol.
Unregistered logos have common law protections and recourse if stolen or closely replicated. You can take infringers to court but must prove original creation and theft, incurring legal costs. Logo theft means using another’s trademarked logo without permission. You need a trademark or service mark to protect a logo, not a copyright or patent. Trademarking a logo with the USPTO costs $275-$660 plus legal fees as of June 2020.
It is highly recommended that you register your logo as a trademark to protect it from being stolen or used without your permission. Hence, taking the proactive step of registering your logo as a trademark can save you time, money, and potential legal battles.
Logo theft is a violation that occurs when one party uses another party’s trademarked logo without their permission. This is a more specific term for trademark infringement and can take many forms. Common-law trademark rights may allow you to sue a competitor to prevent it from using your logo, particularly if it is in a way that attempts to portray itself as your company to consumers.