In a commercial era whereby competition, digitalization and innovation play a significant role, intellectual property and particularly trademarks constitute a fundamental part of each business’ assets.

A trademark is a form of intellectual property and refers to the symbol (including words, figures, shapes, sounds, colours, packaging of goods) a business uses to distinguish its goods and services from other competitors. The distinctive nature of trademark makes it an integral part in each business as customers can easily identify, differentiate, and directly relate the business with its goods and services, thus contributing to the creation of an established brand, reputation and character.

Trademarks and other forms of intellectual property, provide their owners the exclusive right to use and the right to claim to seek damages for unauthorized use and exploitation by third parties. Therefore, it is advisable that owners register their trademarks in order to avoid challenges and the hassle of a potential dispute.

A company should choose the country of its trademark registration according to the market it is currently addressing and wishes to address in the following years. This choice is very important in the process of registering a trademark because it is a part of the business strategy and a mean that can be used to build brand recognition in the market.

As a new Eurostat data shows that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up over 99% of EU companies, the Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund supported by the European Commission and the EUIPO initiated a grant scheme designed to help EU-based SMEs, to protect their intellectual property (IP) right)s thus promoting their interests. EUIPO is currently accepting applications for the year running from 22 January 2024 to 6 December 2024 whilst the SME Fund can assist in protect different assets, including trademarks, designs and patents. It is worth noting that depending on the country where the business is based, the differences in the process should be considered before applying.

Safeguarding intellectual property is a legal route and it is strongly suggested to prevent unauthorized copying or usage of someone’s distinctive ideas, products, or services.

By Amaryllis A. Papantoniou, Lawyer