Many companies fail to realise the impact that trademark can bring to their brand because they think that trademark application is not mandatory and is a waste of money.
While trademark not only act as an important part in establishing your brand presence and recognition, but it also protects you from imitations that profit off your product/service offerings.
What is a registered trademark?
A trademark is a symbol that can distinguish the goods or services of one entity from those of other entity.
Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights, be it word, symbol, design or logo. This gives the business owner the exclusive access and rights to use it. Any third party using your trademark without prior agreement, such as licensing, is considered breaching/stealing of your IP and thus, they are liable for legal consequences.
Most companies tend to use their company logo as their trademark. However, the trademark is only registered when the company submit an application via IPOS as it is a legal process. This means that any third party can use or imitate your brand name and logo without consequences until you are protected with a registered trademark.
Business owners are encouraged to apply for their trademark as soon as possible as a trademark application in Singapore generally takes 6-9 months for approval. Once approved, the company will receive a certificate of registration and the trademark will be protected for 10 years. After which, the company may decide whether to renew the trademark. It is important to note that the trademark protection is territorial, therefore, trademark applied in Singapore under the Trade Mark Act is only effective in Singapore.
Many business owners are often confused with the types of class they should apply under, how to appeal against rejection or applying multiple trademarks in a single application to save cost. With the help of a professional firm, you will reduce the chance of rejection as the filing is done correctly as well as saving your time and effort as we will handle all the correspondences and clarifications sought by the trademark registrar.
Is your company incorporated in Singapore and is looking to expand overseas? You may also realise that overseas trademark applications are not only tedious but expensive as well. Luckily, Singapore has Market Readiness Grant (MRA) which covers 80% of your trademark application fees. Click here if you would like to know about MRA and how you can benefit from this.
If you would like to know more about our fuss-free trademark application process or have a free MRA consultation with us, contact K.Merleone at +65 8010 1470 or info@kmerleone.com now!
We are currently having a promotion at $500 (U.P. $600) including one free appeal attempt under the end of March 2022. Quote ‘TM2022’ to redeem the promo now.