Trademark law protects brand names, slogans, and other source identifiers. Examples include a logo featured on a website and a water bottle.
Unfortunately, slogans cannot be patented because they are not the type of intellectual property that can be patented. Patent law only protects new inventions, processes, and designs, it does not offer protection to slogans. Your best option to protect a slogan is registering it as a trademark with the USPTO. How can I use a slogan?
Typically phrases or slogans are not protectable by trademark or copyright. But unique, orignal creative "art" (story, song, music, many logo's, even a slogan or phrase in a unique font, colors, stylized) can be protected by copyright. Also, a distinct unique phrase or slogan can sometimes be protected as a trademark.
Slogans are typically trademarked, not copyrighted. Trademarks protect words, phrases, or symbols that identify a product or service, while copyrights protect original creative works like books or ...
If you have decided on a catchy business slogan, you will likely use it when advertising your business and its products. You may have wondered, do you copyright or trademark a phrase? Since a slogan is so important to your branding, you should protect it from being copied or misused by other businesses. This article outlines:
How to Trademark a Slogan. Registering a trademark for a slogan involves a thorough, step-by-step process of conducting research, evaluating the slogan’s distinctiveness, and registering it with the USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Application System. Below are some of the main steps of trademarking a slogan. Step 1: Conduct a Trademark Search
Such distinctive slogans fall under the category of “suggestive slogans” in trademark law, which are easier to protect than mere descriptive trademarks. For example, “I’m Lovin’ It®” is uniquely associated with a McDonald’s advertising campaign and as such is a trademarked slogan.
Learn how to check if a quote is copyrighted or trademarked, the difference between copyrights and trademarks, and the benefits of registering intellectual property. ... Trademarks safeguard words, slogans, and logos that distinguish products or services in the market. For instance, popular brand phrases like Nike's "Just Do It" are protected ...
You trademark a slogan. Slogans are trademarked. You protect the slogan of a business by trademarking it. With a trademark, you can prevent competitors from using your slogan in connection with their products or services. Slogans are not copyrighted. Well-known examples of slogans for businesses include and Apple’s THINK DIFFERENT® and ...
Over the past few decades, however, protection of taglines has become more commonplace, as it is now settled that the level of protection afforded to a tagline or slogan is the same as that for other trademarks. As early as 1970, the courts decided that slogans as trademarks are subject to the same scrutiny as non-slogan trademarks.
Without inherent distinctiveness, the U.S. Trademark Office will not grant a slogan trademark protection without more. This means that a slogan during its useful life must achieve a secondary meaning such that invokes the mental image of a product or service when experienced by the consumer. If a consumer can experience your slogan in a manner the conjures your product or service to the ...
How to Trademark a Slogan or Phrase. An essential step in how to trademark a slogan or phrase is recognizing whether it’s even trademarkable. There are several considerations that go into whether you can obtain protection over an slogan, but it typically comes down to whether it’s used to designate the source of a product or service.
Situations may occur where the use of a trademarked slogan in a specific context, such as in a promotional video or advertisement, could raise copyright concerns. Navigating these intersections requires a nuanced understanding of the applicable laws and the ability to balance the competing interests of trademark and copyright protection.
To determine whether a slogan functions as a source identifier, the US Trademark Office first focuses on how the slogan is used in the marketplace and how such slogan is perceived by US consumers. Generally, a slogan that merely conveys factual information or a familiar sentiment is not likely to be perceived by consumers as a source identifier ...
Responsible companies run trademark and service mark searches each time they create a draft slogan for advertising purposes in order to confirm no other company claims trademark or service mark rights in that phrase. Taglines are a little different from slogans, but it is rare from a legal perspective to tease apart this distinction.