What Is a Trademark and What Is It For?

A trademark is a sign that identifies what you sell and sets it apart from what everyone else sells. It can be a word, a name, a design, a symbol, or a combination of these elements. The American Marketing Association defines it as a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or services and distinguishes them from those of its competitors.

Behind that definition there is a simple idea. Every venture starts by solving a problem, and that solution needs a name people can recognize, ask for, and recommend. That name, once it gains meaning in the consumer’s mind, is the trademark.

What a trademark is for

Picture a store where every product looked the same, with no name and no seal, and you could not tell its quality, its origin, or its benefits. You would not know which one to choose or why to pay more for one than another. A trademark solves exactly that: it gives a product an identity and answers, for the buyer, who makes it, who it is for, and what value it delivers.

A well-built trademark does several things at once:

• It takes a place in the consumer’s mind and makes repeat purchases easier.
• It conveys trust and communicates the product’s promise.
• It concentrates the business’s reputation, whether for design, quality, price, or service.
• It becomes an intangible asset of the company.

That last point often gets overlooked. A trademark stops being just a name and becomes something the company can value, license, or assign. When the business seeks investment or is sold, the trademark carries weight in the conversation.

From the trademark to the right over it

Having a trademark and using it is not the same as being its legal owner. Use gives you a presence in practice, but the exclusive right is born with registration before the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce. With that registration you can stop a third party from using an identical or similar sign that confuses the public, and you have the standing to act if someone does.

The first practical step is to identify what type of sign you want to protect, because that determines how it is registered. If you are not sure, look at which type of trademark is yours: word, figurative, composite, or another. The trademark is also one part of your company’s intellectual property, alongside patents, designs, and copyright.

In short

Finding the value that makes you different is the starting point of every trademark. Turning that value into a recognizable sign, and that sign into a protected right, is what makes it a real asset for your company. At SPI Américas we help you shape that process, from defining the trademark to registering it.