What does a trademark protect?

“A lot of businesses focus on the product: what's good about the product, what makes the product so different, the unique selling proposition. You hear these phrases all the time. Take On Goliath looks at things a little differently. We go far enough back to see what's needed to support the consumer, the retailer, the wholesaler, and then the brand itself.” Read the full story of Dave Christie, the founder of Take on Goliath, another inspiring brand protected by Trama that helps SME businesses be seen and heard more.

Cases of multinational companies putting claims against much smaller businesses are far from uncommon, but their result is almost always the same - an absolute PR nightmare for the corporate giants. Oatly AB, a leading plant-based dairy alternatives producer, is amongst the companies that have fallen under public scrutiny after their overly aggressive trademark enforcement actions.

Approximately 100 million new businesses are established each year [1]. The failure rate of startups is around 90% [2] and while there is a myriad of factors that influence startup success, we do believe that effective brand protection represents one of them. This article thereby presents a concise summary of 13 good reasons why startups should think about trademark registration from the very start.