Should I get a trademark or patent?

Photo of Jan Buza

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

The answer to whether you should apply for a trademark or a patent depends on what you're trying to protect.

A trademark protects a brand's image and reputation against infringement. A trademark usually protects the company/product logo, name or slogan and prevents others from using brand elements that could be considered "confusingly similar", which could lead to consumer confusion.

A patent is intended for the protection of the technical aspects of an invention.

Bluetooth is an example of a patent (or a series of patents, to be exact). But it is not the name Bluetooth that the patent protects - the actual title of the main patent no.6590928 is "Frequency hopping piconets in an uncoordinated wireless multi-user system". The name "Bluetooth" is protected by a trademark.

You can learn more about the differences between common intellectual property protection mechanisms in this article.

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