What is Brand Protection: Preserving Brand Values and Assets

What is brand protection? In the context of extremely competitive business, many businesses still do not clearly understand the importance of brand protection. To be successful, businesses must find ways to maintain the relationship between the brand and consumers. Just a little competitive advantage can help businesses achieve certain achievements. Therefore, brand protection is the top priority.

1. What is brand protection?

Brand protection is the process of protecting intellectual property rights of companies and their brands, to combat counterfeiting and illegal trademark infringement.

According to the Law, trademark protection is the act of protecting signs that distinguish the goods and services of one organization or individual from those of other organizations or individuals.

The Intellectual Property Law stipulates that a trademark is a sign that distinguishes the goods, products and services of organizations and individuals from each other.

Trademark protection is a legal tool of the state to protect the rights of trademark owners from infringement by other owners. It includes all images, colors, fonts, words related to the trademark such as Logo, Slogan, Brand Name.

However, nowadays, trademark protection does not stop at the trademark, the business must protect other rich intellectual properties to ensure that the brand and product are not infringed by a third party. What are those factors, let’s find out in the next section.

2. Some brand assets that need protection

2.1 Trade Dress (Overall commercial image)

In the law on trademark protection, it includes brand names, product names, slogans, logos and brand identifiers. Like trademarks, Trade Dress also indicates the source of goods and services. Under US trademark law, Trade Dress is protected by registration against infringement that is likely to cause consumer confusion. Forms of Trade Dress that are labels or packaging, or other elements that identify the source, including product design, can also be protected.

To receive protection, Trade Dress must have a specific, consistent design element, the “style” or “graphic detail” of a product does not qualify for protection. In addition, the design elements must satisfy the non-functional condition.

To receive protection for a Trade Dress, the product design must be used for a sufficient period of time to become popular in the public consciousness. Registering for Trade Dress protection is a valuable tool to prevent copying by third parties.

2.2 Design Patents

Design patent protection covers the functional or “useful” parts of an invention, called design patents. Manufacturers can also obtain design patent protection for non-functional aspects of a new product.

To be eligible for protection, the design must be new, have a distinct shape and not be modified from the design of another existing item. It includes the shape, configuration, and decorative design elements of a new product that provide a practical utility.

2.3 Copyright

Businesses should also consider copyright as a brand asset that needs to be protected. Copyright protects original works of authorship such as visual arts, music or literary works. Elements such as logos, advertisements, labels or product instructions may also be copyrighted if they represent a minimum level of creativity.
Copyright owners have the ability to prevent others from copying, displaying, performing or creating derivative works of their copyrighted work. Just like trademarks, trade dress, design patents, copyright-eligible works can be registered for trademark protection.

2.4 Trade Secret

Trade Secret protection contrasts with other forms of trademark protection. While other forms of protection require disclosure of assets, trade secret protection requires businesses to take steps to keep information secret.

Trade secrets include a wide range of information such as financial, business, technical, and technological information, as long as the information provides independent economic value that is not known or not available to anyone. For example, business contacts or product manufacturing methods.

3. Why should businesses protect their trademarks?

Like any valuable business asset, a trademark is something that businesses need to protect. Failure to protect a trademark not only reduces the value of the trademark but also damages the reputation of the business. Some reasons why businesses need to protect their trademarks include:

3.1 Increase brand value

A patented brand becomes an asset of the business. If the business does not protect the brand, it will lose value and be considered unreliable. The brand value will increase over time depending on the business situation of the business. Even high-end fashion brands such as Chanel, LV, Gucci, the brand value is higher than tangible assets

3.2 Increase brand awareness

Businesses are fighting for the attention of consumers. To stand out, your brand must be promoted across all platforms, from search engines, social media to in-game advertising. Consumers encountering your brand every day is an effective way for your business to stand out. However, before promoting widely, businesses must protect their brand from duplication or infringement. Only then will consumers be able to immediately recognize your product when it reaches consumers without confusing it with other brands.

3.3 Increase reputation and maintain position

In addition to brand awareness, exclusive protection enhances the reputation and trust of the business in the minds of customers. At the same time, it proves to customers that the business can develop sustainably and long-term. In the process of building, just one piece of unverified information, especially the issue of counterfeit goods, can also cause a business to lose its brand, lose market share and its image will also be affected.

4. The most correct ways to protect a brand

Brand protection is necessary knowledge for every business. Here are some ways to protect your brand against both offline and online infringers.

4.1 Registering for brand protection

What is brand protection registration? This is the process of ensuring legality in business after submitting a trademark application to the Vietnam Intellectual Property Office. If you do not register for brand protection, your business will not have legal capacity for your brand when others abuse it, arbitrarily cutting the logo and brand name off the product. Therefore, registering a trademark is the first step to protect your brand.

4.2 Fighting counterfeit websites

Counterfeit websites are websites designed for malicious and criminal purposes. They come in many variations and all have the potential to harm your brand. Businesses can combat this problem by registering relevant domain names for their brands and finding ways to remove malicious websites.

4.3 Boosting your social media presence

Social media has become a major “area” for counterfeiters to operate. Therefore, businesses must maintain and boost their presence on social media to affirm that their brand is genuine. Using on-site reporting tools and secret accounts is an important brand protection strategy to eliminate risks on social networks.

4.4 “Educate” customers

“Educating” customers is the fastest, most effective and most cost-effective way to protect brands. There are two ways for businesses to educate customers: One is to equip customers with knowledge to better identify the difference between genuine products and counterfeits, avoiding fraud. The other is to equip customers with knowledge about the harmful effects of counterfeit goods, which will make them tend to reduce their search and stay away from counterfeit products.

A brand is the image of a business in the minds of customers. Building a recognizable brand is a long and challenging journey. One of the best ways to bring success to a business is to protect the brand from being copied and taken advantage of by others. Being proactive in protecting the title and understanding its importance to the business is an important strategy for building a brand.

See more:

• What is brand identity??
• What is brand assets?