One of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make is related to the name of their product or service.
Below is some advice which you may find useful in relation to the name of a brand or a new start-up.
1.It is not necessary for the name of your company to be related to the name of your products or services.
Exactly!
Many people mistakenly believe that:
-the name of their company gives them exclusivity and that if they use it as the name of their products without obtaining any further protection, then it will be ok and that
-the name of their company must be the same with the name of their products.
However, today the majority of the companies have names which are entirely different to the names of their products or services.
Therefore, if you are the owner of a company named ALPHA LIMITED, you can be the owner of many dissimilar trademarks / brands.
To sum up, the name of your products and or services are equally important as the name of your company.
2. Depending on your plans, it is not always necessary to register a business name.
Many entrepreneurs believe that after registering their company, the next important step is to register a business name.
It is important to note however that a business name gives limited protection and grants limited rights to its holder. Most significantly, a business name registration does not include proprietary rights to such name. In other words, it does not give the right to its owner to prohibit any third party from using this name as a trademark.
3. Register your brand name or product as a trademark!
Before advertising or promoting your idea, make sure that you can register it (or that you have already applied to protect it) as a trademark.
This is the most valuable goal you can achieve in order to have an exclusive right to the use of your name or logo.
4. Find a domain name identical to the name of your brand.
Currently, we are facing the biggest change in the history of the internet.
For the first time however, the owner of a domain name can have full control of the use of his name online, using fast and authorised -by ICANN- mechanisms.
The only condition to enjoy the above, is to be the owner of a duly registered trademark.
Therefore, register a domain name that would be exactly the same with your trademark, in order to achieve trademark and domain name protection.
For instance if your product’s logo is ALFA CAFE, register your domain name as ALFACAFE.com and not ALFACAFEBAR.COM. (and vice versa!)
5. Your brand’s name is your biggest asset.
Therefore, make sure that you take all necessary steps to protect and develop it!
IP Cyprus is ready to assist you for any issue related to the protection and development of your IP rights.
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