A good topic has arisen through our branding / corporate identity work here in Brisbane – which is the role of Copyright and Trademarks and what it means for business.

Copyright is automatically assigned to a piece of original work, be it intellectual, dramatic, musical, artistic and literature when it is produced in a tangible format.   In essence, copyright © grants exclusive privilege to the creator and ensures that no reproduction can be made without permission or compensation to the creator.

Protecting one’s copyright is important. Equally important is the ‘tangible’ word of the above paragraph. An example of this played out earlier this year in the courts relating to Alex’s Lloyd’s use of the lyrics for the hit song ‘Amazing’. In which, Mark O’Keefe alleged that it was he himself who wrote the song on the back of beer-coasters in a pub in 1991. Mark then alleges that he himself handed the words to the song on the coasters over to Lloyd to finish the song.  The tangible evidence was missing in this case, and as such there was no-way of proving ownership in favour of Mark.

The next role in protecting intellectual property falls into the category of Trademarks. When a product is first to market it must be an ™ Unregistered Trademark. Only once it is in use, can a trademark become a fully-fledged ® Registered Trademark.

Trademarks are defined either by a word, phrase or symbol used in commerce in conjunction with a product or service. They indicate the source of a product and prevent other people or businesses from a using a mark that could be confused with the original. An excellent example of a trademark is the Nike ‘Swoosh’, the phrases such “Just do it”, and the word itself. When I traveled overseas, I remember walking past a store that was selling ‘Mike’ tee-shirts, in the logo-type of Nike, with ‘Just did it’ and an upside-down swoosh. Definitely some serious Trademarking infringing happening in that instance, and fashion police should arrest the person who would have eventually bought that tee-shirt.

Trademarks do not however prevent others from creating the same product or service and promoting them under a new name. Where unique technology, design, or ideas are involved ­– Patents are created to protect this form of intellectual property.

For further information regarding Branding, Copyright and Trademarking, Contact  Brandrally. Telephone: (07) 3216 0442.

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Brandrally – 50 McLachlan St, Fortitude Valley 4006 Brisbane QLD AUSTRALIA