When a person builds something and wants to sell it he needs an entire team to serve this purpose. But most importantly, he needs a specific name to give his products so his client wouldn’t be mistaken with other products. Brand name and trademarks help to distinguish two products when a consumer buys them.
Brand Name vs Trademark
The main difference between brand name and trademark is that brand is a name that is given to the product by its owner or the company that manufactures it. While trademark is a name or condition when the company’s name is registered under the law. Trademarks are one of kind and can not be copied.
The name that is used to denote or identify a product of a certain company or organization is known as the brand name. The brand name is given to the product by the company that developed or manufacture it. A brand is important cause it shows what type of service it is going to provide.
Trademark is the name, word, or any symbol that is given to the organization and legally registered. Trademarks, just like brand names, represent the whole company or organization. Trademark is a name that is frequently used to signify a specific product by a customer. It is useful in building up trust in the market.
Comparison Table Between Brand Name and Trademark
| Parameters Of Comparison | Brand Name | Trademark |
| Given by | The brand name is something that is imposed upon the product by its owner or the company. | Trademark is a proof or name that is imposed upon a product by a legal entity. |
| Purpose | The brand name is given to the product so the potential customers and clients can reach for it easily. | Trademark is given so no one can misuse the business name and cause harm to the organization’s reputation. |
| Procedure | The brand name is given when a person starts his business and begins to make sales. | Trademark is given when the business is well spread and gives lucrative results to the ownership bodies. |
| Structure | The brand is simply a name or sometimes any kind of phrase that appears on the packaging or the product. | Trademark is a symbol that starts to appear next to the brand name as TM when it is registered. |
| Legal protection | A brand name does not provide legal protection against the use by others for similar products. | The main goal of getting a trademark is to be able to sue those who try to use the pre-registered name. |
What is Brand Name?
A brand is sometimes also known as a designer label because basically, it is a label that helps the person to differentiate a particular product from other similar products. The brand name is a very important part of marketing strategy. The brand name is liable to represent the entire organization and company.
Giving the products or services is the very first procedure when a person decides to establish a company. The brand name is used so the potential customers can understand better and decide which brand provides the best quality. The brand name is also known as business.
They have the power to make larger sales if the company has been providing a good service. To understand the power of a brand name, one can take the example of Apple. Apple iPhones are trendy among youth, they somehow represent luxury.
A person can get a cell phone with features compatible with the Apple iPhone or maybe better in less price. But the craze of the name Apple is enough to make the sale.
The other examples of famous brands are Nike, Samsung, Gucci, LG, Canon, HP, etc. Every series they launch, no matter how expensive they are, sells like fruits. Hence, having a perfect brand name is as important as providing promising services.
What is Trademark?
Trademark is used for those properties, products, services that have some kind of expression, sign, symbol, or design to identify from other similar products. A legal entity, a single person, and the entire organization, all of them can have a trademark.
It is used as solid copyright that is beneficial in the differentiation procedure from all other similar kinds. It represents the identity of the source company before the client and customer in the market. Trademarks are registered by some legal authorities and it involves a term known as ‘fair use. The term ‘fair use’ helps the person or owner to avoid any sort of infringement in his fundamental rights.
If he faces any kind of such infringement he can legally claim against it. The term ‘fair use’ has been divided into two divisions that are Classic Fair Use and Nominative Fair Use. Fair use exists to prevent others to use a pre-registered name for their services and goods.
When a name is registered, it begins to show the symbol of a trademark which is ™ next to it. In the region of Henry 3rd, in 1266, an act for the trademark was passed. While modern law concerning trademarks was seen in the 19th century.
Main Differences Between Brand Name and Trademark
- The brand name can never be a trademark because it lacks those qualities while a trademark can always be a brand name because it’s already advanced enough.
- To understand both the terms example of Nike can be taken where Nike is a brand name while Nike swoosh is considered to be a trademark because is registered.
- The brand name is the name of the product or service. On the other hand, a trademark has multiple forms, it can be a name, a symbol, sometimes design, etc.
- The brand name is the part of identity given by the source company to the product while a trademark is a legal mark or symbol that is given by legal authorities at law.
- A mere brand can not attain enough trust from consumers. On the other hand, a trademark shows that certain products come under a trusted brand.
Conclusion
When a person establishes a business, it is not that easy to run it and build a brand. A business has several aspects and each of them is equally important.
The brand name is just like naming a newborn child while getting a trademark is like admitting that child into the school by giving real information to the school authorities.
Suppose there is a very prestigious brand that provides the best quality of products at reasonable prices, but some other people try to sell products with a similar appearance and brand name but cheaper quality.
It can cause serious damage to the reputation of the original company. This is why registration is important so one can sue others for misusing his brand name.
References
- https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EUM0000000002563/full/html
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/467138