It is well established that over time, the assets of a typical business have been increasingly comprised of intellectual property (IP) assets such as patents, trademarks, trade names, software, and copyrights. In a world where information is more widely disseminated and product differentiation increasingly difficult, the value of trademarks, as well as related assets such as trade names and brand names, has taken on increased importance.
Description of Trademarks
Trademarks, trade names and brand names are similar but not identical assets. A trademark is a distinctive and recognizable insignia, phrase or other symbol that identifies a specific product or service and legally differentiates it from all other products. A trade name, on the other hand, is merely the name by which a product or service is known. While registration is not specifically required to obtain a trademark in the United States, registering a trademark provides legal protection in a way that registering a trade name does not provide (note that all legal aspects of these assets are beyond the scope of this article).
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