It’s surprisingly common for companies to contact me saying they want to register a trademark just a week before their product launch. This is absolutely unacceptable.
These companies often assume that trademark registration is a given. However, registering a trademark is far more challenging than they expect. In most cases, not only will their trademark application be rejected, but they also won’t be legally allowed to use the trademark.
If the issue is simply that the trademark lacks distinctiveness and can be registered by adding a logo or symbol, they should consider themselves lucky. The real problem arises when there is a pre-existing, similar registered trademark that is also actively in use. In such cases, there may be no other option but to change the brand entirely.
Marketers naturally perform competitive analysis during the early stages of product planning. They investigate whether competitors have already established brands in the same industry or for similar products. They also examine what names and marketing strategies those competitors have used.
However, many marketers neglect to verify whether the brand they want to use is already registered or if it is legally permissible under trademark law.
There may be brands that are registered but not actively used. From a marketer’s perspective, a particular trademark might not seem similar at all, but under trademark law, it could still be deemed confusingly similar. Additionally, even if two products do not seem to overlap in the actual market, trademark law might still consider them to have a potential for conflict.
Today, brands often come first, with products being developed to fit the brand. Imagine spending months planning, strategizing, and developing a product, only to be forced to change the brand at the last minute. For a marketer, that would be a nightmare.
Trademark Registration Must Be Considered from the Brand Planning Stage
Even if you choose a brand that might not qualify for registration, you should have a contingency plan and make strategic decisions early on. It’s not advisable to move too far into the business process only to find yourself with no choice but to push forward with an unregistered brand.
You can file your trademark application right before the product launch if necessary. However, you should evaluate the possibility of trademark registration during the naming process.
Large branding firms already follow this approach. Once a product concept and brand strategy are finalized, the first task is naming. At this point, they collaborate with trademark experts to check the possibility of registration and receive feedback before finalizing the name. Brand and product design come afterward.
