Having a strong brand identity is crucial for your business. It’s your brand that holds the essence of your company and your offer. It helps you stand out from your competitors, building awareness and customer loyalty.
Now, with global trade and online platforms growing by leaps and bounds, protecting your brand can be challenging. That’s where trademark registration comes into the picture, as a strategic move to avoid any unauthorized use.
Find out more about how to keep your company’s identity safe and sound, no matter where you sell.
What’s a trademark?
A trademark is any symbol, design, or signature attribute that are unique to your company. It’s any element that helps identify your products and services as your own.
Since the definition of trademark is so flexible, they may come in all shapes and sizes. For clarity’s sake, here are some trademark categories and examples:
- Fictional characters: James Bond, Godzilla, or “Jack” from Jack in The Box.
- Business names: Apple or IBM.
- Company logos: NBC’s peacock logo.
- Words and slogans in stylized fonts: Ebay.
- Colors: Barbie Pink, Cadbury Egg Purple, or Tiffany Blue.
- Slogans: ‘Just Do It’ by Nike.
- Sounds: Yahoo!’s yodel.
- Product shapes: Toblerone bar or glass Coca-Cola bottle.
In a nutshell, trademarks, in any way, shape or form, are a visual representation of your company and its products.
Why is it important to trademark your brand?
Trademarking is key to:
- Building recognition – Trademarks create a clear image of your product in your audience’s minds. This results in a strong brand presence and customer loyalty.
- Guaranteeing your quality – Customers feel reassured by buying a genuine product.
- Gaining a competitive edge in the market – By setting your products apart from its rivals.
- Protecting your brand’s identity and reputation – No other business will be able to use the same visual elements.
- Adding value to your brand – It becomes an intangible asset that can be licensed, sold, or used as collateral.
This all goes to prove that registering a trademark can turn into a major source of income for your company.
Are registered trademarks recognized across countries?
Protecting your brand name, slogans, symbols, and other trademarked assets abroad is vital. It’s a common misconception that a trademark will be recognized everywhere. But trademarks are territorial, that is, linked to the country of registration.
In other words, establishing a trademark in your homeland doesn’t mean you’ll be granted protection in other countries.
So, when expanding your business abroad, you should register your trademarks in every country you target. Which, in turn, involves having them translated.
How to go about your trademark translation?
One of the main challenges you’ll encounter in the translation process is ensuring you abide by local rules and regulations.
Trademark legislation varies across countries. And non-compliant translations may result in your registration failing. So, relying on translation professionals with experience in intellectual property is a must.
Now, safeguarding your legal rights is crucial. But so it is to present your brand identity to overseas customers in a way that is understandable to them. You’ll have to find a compromise between conveying your intended message and connecting with your audience.
Think about it. Characters, phrases, or colors may have different nuances in other cultures. Take, for example, the color white, which is used for mourning in China.
This means that literal translation from one language to another often doesn’t work. It’s crucial to adapt trademarked elements to the target audience’s customs. To the point that you may have to craft a new element altogether to enter your target market.
And let’s go one step further. Imagine you want to register your brand name to sell in China. Since Chinese uses a different character set, you won’t be able to do so in the Latin alphabet.
In this case, you’d transliterate the initial trademark, which you could do by:
- Choosing local script characters with a similar pronunciation (phonetic approach).
- Describing your business, or a sales argument related to your products, and assigning local characters to convey that meaning (semantic approach).
What should you take into account when transliterating your brand name?
Here are 3 key points you should be aware of:
- Ensure your phonetic transliteration doesn’t have any negative nuances. Otherwise, you may make a faux pas, like Coca-Cola back in the ‘20s. They adopted a transliterated brand name in China that literally meant “Bite the wax tadpole”.
- Double-check that there are no existing trademarks that are similar to your transliteration. This is essential to prevent the risk of infringement and avoid legal battles with other trademark owners.
- Be consistent in using your transliterated brand name in every context. In so doing, you’ll make it easier for customers to recognize your brand. And you’ll avoid any administrative issues that may arise if there are discrepancies in the transliteration.
Ready to trademark your global brand?
By trademarking your branding elements, you’re investing in your business success. It’s a strategic move that will pave the way for growth, recognition, and trust in the marketplace.
But the concept of trademark recognition is not universal. So, you’ll need to translate and adapt trademarks for different markets. This involves language and cultural understanding, compliance with local regulations, and vigilance.
A professional LSP can help you craft your trademarking strategy. At Montero Language Services, we have a team of project managers and translators with experience in marketing, localization, and intellectual property.
Do you want to make sure your brand identity remains in safe hands? Contact us.
