What's the difference? Well, the company name protects the name of your company, but is often also the name of a product or service. Prominent examples of this in the new economy are Tesla and Apple. But not every company is that well-known. Most company formations initially take place regionally. Once a company name that is as unique as possible has been invented, the question arises: What happens next? Is registration in the local commercial register sufficient for Germany-wide protection of my company oman phone number data name? Can my website, which is accessible nationwide , conflict with other brand names and company names? First of all, you should be aware that the usual check by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry only covers the small Chamber of Commerce and Industry district and therefore only a minimal portion of potential problems. Neither the Chamber of Commerce and Industry nor the Commercial Registry Court conducts a Germany-wide search for older rights (brand and company names).
The same problem exists with product names. The inventor of the name might even consider registering his new brand name with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). This, too, seems relatively simple at first glance, but it is not. When registering a brand name, the trademark office does not check whether prior third-party rights are infringed, but rather registers it blindly. The trademark applicant, once again, receives only apparent security through registration.
So what should be done first to protect the brand name?
As briefly mentioned above, the first step in protecting a brand name is to conduct a thorough trademark and company name research. This raises the question of which industry or classes of goods and services (Nice classes) you want to protect the brand name for, and possibly for which countries the trademark should later enjoy protection. For example, you've come up with the product name "Möbus" and want to use it to sell sneakers. So you go to your trusted trademark attorney and have them conduct a trademark and company name similarity search. They will then inform you that, unfortunately, such a trademark already exists, and it's also registered for the same Nice classes you originally wanted to enter. However, you now know that you should probably stay away from "Möbus." At this point, the obvious idea is to simply modify the name slightly. Even then, your trusted trademark attorney will tell you that you should only protect a trademark name that is not phonetically, written, or associatively confusing with an existing trademark in the same industry or product group. Once you have identified a conflict-free trademark name, your trademark attorney will hopefully explain that you can protect different trademarks based on their area of application: for example, a national trademark, an international trademark (IR trademark), or an EU-wide trademark. Therefore, the larger the territory you choose, the greater the scope of the search.
How to protect your brand name
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