There are some laws governing trademarks which give it legal nature. A trademark is treated as an intellectual property. In fact, the law in the USA and other nations including Australia recognizes trademark as a form of property that ought to be guarded. The rights of ownership of the property can be established through registration of the symbol or mark in the patent office or through actual use in the market place. However, most jurisdictions do not recognize the legal ownership of a trademark if the ownership arises through use in the market rather than registration. In the event of infringement of rights associated with the same, the case will be treated on the basis of ‘first one to file.’
The process of registering a trade mark is similar to the process of property registration. This further reveals its legal and property nature. In the first place, the owner is supposed to file an application in the legal office available including a trademark office. The applications are thereafter filed and the applicant put in the line for examination by the attorney or trademark officer in charge of the same. The applications are reviewed for a period of about six months and thereafter the trademark is published for opposition. If no one opposes the same for a designed period, the trademark is registered.
When the trademark has been registered, the owner is given exclusive rights for the same. This means that no one else reserves the rights to use the trademark for trade and the owner reserves the rights of suing the trespassers who could use the trademark for their own benefits. The owner becomes the valid owner meaning that he has to act in accordance to the trademark; he or she should own its demands and meets its public expectation. Any product in the market with the tag of the brand cannot be from any other source apart from the real owner.
Significance of the Legal Nature of Trademarks as a Form of Property
Trademarks once registered become the exclusive property of the owner. This means that the owner takes exclusive laws of the property, which must then be governed under the legal nature of property. The property laws thereafter apply to the trademark, which in turn has an impact on the global economy. The legal nature of a trademark as a property manifests during the time of selling the property.
Once the trademark has been registered, the owner cannot sell it easily unless under full transfer of the ownership as in the case of property. If the trademark is sold to a retailer or supplier, there are high chances of consumers being manipulated unless there was transfer of the ownership of the trademark and the underlying production process. For instance, if Coca-Cola decides to sell its trademark, the buyer of the same will not have the formulas to produce a brand such as Fanta. An attempt to produce a Fanta will be disastrous as the consumers will be robbed of quality and taste. As a result, the legal nature of trademarks restrict the selling of the same unless the there is a complete transfer of ownership rights. For the case of Coca-Cola, if the sale of its trademark involves the transfer of ownership rights for the formulas used in the production, the Fanta produced will be the same as the original owner.
From the above information, it means that the legal nature of the trademarks guards against misinformation and ensures originality of the product. With the originality of the product guarded, the suppliers remain responsible for ensuring the qualities of the products are maintained. At the same time, the trademark remains a link to the source of the product. This means that source or owners of the trademark will maintain the properties of the product and ensure it maintain the standards required for competition. In the event of competition, the owner of the trademark has the duty of differentiating the product to ensure the brand meets the taste of the customer.
The legal nature of the trademark implies that the mark is attached to a physical product or service. This means that trademark exists in present tense and has indefinite lifespan. As long as the products are on the market, the trademark is present. This implies that if the owner ceases selling products, the brand ceases to exist.
The legal nature of trademarks signifies the zeal with which the owner undertakes to market the products. A trademark carries uniqueness and singularity in the market. The singularity and uniqueness property of a trademark is associated with the product it signifies. The owner gives the product under their trademark some qualities and properties unique to that of the competitors. The legal nature of trademark implies that the product is associated with the source or owner.
The owner or the source must therefore ensure the product maintain qualities needed on the market. In case of potential entrants on the market that may weaken the brand, the owners ensure the product is adjusted to meet the regulations of the market. This means that the legal nature of trademarks yields economic zeal to the producer. The economic zeal is essential driver of the economy. Economic zeal of the producer results into comprehensive efforts on producers to ensure the products produced meet the required standards in terms of properties and price of the commodity. Since early 1960s, self branded products emerged on the market. As a result, the branded products started getting stiff competition from self labelled products. This competition is behind the fueling in economic zeal on the part of trademark owners.