How Do I Register A Tagline

The all-time way to protect a slogan is to register it as a trademark

If you've got an original thought that you could potentially profit from, how practice you ensure you retain control of it? Grid Constabulary founder David Walker helps one reader register a slogan as a trademark.

Question

I accept an idea for a slogan that could be applied to t-shirts and other products such as hats, cups, nightwear, journals etc. It's something that I believe would be very popular, as I've not seen it washed nevertheless.

Im not sure how to become about the whole procedure so information technology would be great if yous could provide some communication.

Cheers in accelerate for any information yous are able to offer

Answer

Thanks for your question.

The first footstep is to protect your idea and the best manner to protect a slogan is to register it as a trademark.

Not all slogans are registerable as trademarks and then it will demand to fulfil the following three criteria:

It must be capable of existence represented graphically;
It must be distinctive, not descriptive of what the product is or does; and
It mustnt be excluded from protection.

it's the third criteria that you volition have to wait at carefully, specially if yous are combining the slogan with a logo or other design. For instance, special emblems such equally national flags are excluded from registration.

Y'all will also be prevented from registering your trademark if it indicates the geographic origin of the product or if someone else has a prior right to information technology.

To find out if anyone has a prior right to your slogan (or something very similar to it) you should carry out a thorough trademark search. Start with the Intellectual Property Role which has a database of all registered trademarks which you can search for gratis.

If that search is articulate, simply Google the slogan and see if it is constitute. If anyone else is using it every bit an unregistered trademark they may be able to block your application to register information technology.

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How a UK micro business sued Nike for trademark infringement and won

After a small company spotted Nike had launched a new slogan close to its own, the business successfully sued the sportswear giant for trademark infringement.

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If you find an identical or similar trademark to the slogan you wish to protect, look at the products and/or services it'southward being used for. it's entirely possible for two identical trademarks to co-be (as I explained in this article: How two identical brands tin co-exist)

If you cannot trademark your slogan at present, either because it's non registerable or because someone has a prior correct to information technology, think about whether you could make any changes to information technology and so search again.