What Does Infringement Of A Trademark Imply?

Infringement of a trademark has become a crucial issue in this age of high competitiveness. But how is it possible to determine when a specific trademark is being used unlawfully by a brand? There are some factors that have to be checked for finding out whether the trademark has been violated by another company.

The primary aspect is to study the similarity between the two trademarks with respect to appearance, sound, meaning, spelling and pronunciation. If the likeness between the trademarks on any one of these counts is significant enough to give rise to confusion in a consumer’s minds, it will be tantamount to infringement of trademark. This in turn would cause commercial loss to the firm that owns the trademark as the customer will not be able to distinguish their items from the counterfeit ones. You should keep in mind that if the pronunciation is quite similar, difference in spelling can be insignificant as far as trademark infringement is concerned.

The second consideration is whether the manufacturers of similar brand names are selling goods and services that are connected to one another. If they are not related, there will be much lesser chance of confusion even if they bear quite similar trademarks.

Another factor is how sophisticated or thoroughly informed the buyers of these goods and services are. Even similar trademarks can’t confuse smart customers, who go for a thorough background study of an item before purchasing it. Such consumers are armed with comprehensive information about the competing brands and hence they are not puzzled by closely resembling trademarks.

This confusion is usually confronted by an average buyer, who buys things in a hurry and pays little attention to the subtle details. He would not be conscious of the finer differences between the two trademarks, which in turn will increase the likelihood of his buying a fake product. This is the perfect example of trademark infringement, which has to be guarded against.

Discover more about Trademark Registration Singapore and discover how does an Intellectual Property protection increase the net worth of your business very fast.

Published by: Bart Jones on October 21st, 2009 | Filed under Intellectual Property



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