The Reason Trademarks Exist (That Some Lawyers Might Not Tell You)

When you think of a trademark, you probably think, “It's mine. It's my property. It's my brand. It's my precious!”

Okay, Gollum.

And yeah, you're right. It is. But that's not the real legal reason why trademarks exist.

Fact: Trademark is your property

Technically, intellectual property. It's your brand name. It's your logo. It's some symbol or word or group of words. Sometimes it's even a color that tells everyone, “This is my brand.”

But do you know the actual purpose of a trademark?

It's all about the consumers. It's a quality indicator.

In other words, your audience associates your brand your symbol with a certain amount of quality, whether it's good or bad. It helps the consumer make purchasing decisions.

For example, if I see a Coca-Cola made with cane sugar then I know it's going to taste different than a Pepsi made with high fructose corn syrup. I can see those two brands and then make my purchasing decision.

Let’s play a word association game.

I'm going to say some brand names and you say the first word that pops into your head. Ready?

• Disney

• Nickelodeon

• Shake Shack

• McDonald's

• Whole Foods

• Piggly Wiggly

• Target

• Home Goods

How'd you do?

Even if you can't come up with a word for each of those, you get a certain feeling or connotation or opinion that comes to mind when you hear those brand names, right? That is the whole purpose behind trademarks. That's why trademark law was created.

Consumer-minded and consumer first!