Back to Logo vs name trademark

Does a slogan need to be trademarked as a word mark?

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

Yes. A slogan or tagline is a text-based mark and is registered as a wordmark. This gives the owner exclusive rights to use the specific phrase in connection with the registered goods or services and provides grounds to challenge uses of confusingly similar slogans.

If the slogan is used as part of a logo, it can also be included in a figurative or combined mark registration, which protects the name and visual elements together. However, a combined mark registration does not, in itself, protect the slogan as one phrase. For that, a separate wordmark application for the slogan is needed.

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