We often hear the term
"brand" used interchangeably with the term "trademark". But
there is a legal difference between the two words.
A trademark is a mark
that legally represents something, usually a business, by their goods or
services. A brand name, however, is the name that a business chooses for one of
their products. A brand identifies a specific product or name of a company.
A "Trademark"
includes any device, brand, make, label, name, signature, word, letter,
numerical, shape of goods, packaging, color or combination of colors, smell,
sound, movement or any combination thereof which is capable of distinguishing
goods and services of one business from those of others.
One might ask, “What
make of car do you drive?” and hear the answer as “A Ford®.” Or, “What brand of
detergent do you use?” “Oh, I use Tide®.” Both Ford and Tide are trademarks, Ford cars can be both a brand and make, but
Tide is not a make. You can use just the word "Ford" as a brand. A
brand can also become a trademark. Ford started making cars in 1903, and
started using the now famous oval Ford logo in 1907. But it was not until 1909
that the brand name Ford was registered as a trademark and today the brand name
Ford is now a worldwide trademark.
In reality, very few
people, other than lawyers, who hear you use the word "brand" rather
than "trademark" would stop and tell you that you used the wrong
word.
