What is a trademark?
A trademark is any visible sign that identifies certain goods or services with their source and distinguishes them from those of their same kind or class within commerce. They are classified as:
What is a slogan?
It is an advertising phrase or expression that announces products or services, or commercial establishments or negotiations to distinguish them from those of their same kind.
What is a trade name?
It is the name of a company,or of an,industrial, commercial or service establishment. The right to its exclusive use is protected without a registration.
What is a geographical indication?
It is the name of a geographical area (country, region, etc.) adopted by a product that, because of it coming from that place, it has its own characteristics that differentiate it from others of the same species from other places.
What is a domain name?
It is an internet address that allows to identify and localize websites, and is associated to an IP address represented by numbers and dots.
Why should I protect my distinctive sign?
With the protection of trademarks or other distinctive signs, its holder or owner will have the exclusive rights of use within the national territory, and shall impede that whichever other person uses or commercializes the mark or other similar one for the same or similar products or services, without a proper authorization and shall grant a license to whom desires said authorization. Since the rights are territorial, a registration must be filed in each country where protection is sought, or process an application for international registration.
Before what authority must be pursued protection of distinctive signs?
In Mexico, the authority in charge of receiving applications for distinctive sign registrations is, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). In Zavala Patmark, we design protection strategies for requesting national and international registrations, in observance of the needs, economy and purposes of the interested party.
Recommendations before filing a trademark or advertisement slogan applications.
With the objective to know a registration´s feasibility of a distinctive sign (trademark and/or slogan) before filing an application, it is recommended to conduct a phonetic, graphic or combined search to ensure that the requested sign does not contain elements prohibited by law, with which we may also be in condition to know about the likely existence of previous and confusingly similar applications or registrations, that IMPI might consider as bars to the trademark application. These feasibility analysis and phonetic and/or graphic searches are one of the services offered by the Zavala Patmark professionals.
