IP Business Brief

Trademarks

How do you register or secure trademark rights, and what protection does it grant?

Trademark rights can be divided into two categories, namely statutory rights and rights afforded by common law. In order to secure statutory trademark rights, a trademark proprietor must register its mark as a trademark with the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO). Statutory rights are the strongest rights that can be secured in a trademark and lay the basis for the most effective and least expensive way of enforcing rights in a mark. Common law rights are acquired through the actual use of a trademark, namely the reputation, goodwill and general association that develop over a period of time.