A trademark is a mark that has been adopted to distinguish the source of a particular good and/or service from other sources in a similar line of business.

• Trademarks can consist of words and/or a design. Most trademarks are wordmarks, such as Kodak or Coke, design marks, such as Nike's "swoosh," or a combination, such as the stylized script for Coca Cola.
• In those common law countries, as soon as you have begun to properly use a valid trademark, you have established it as a  'common law'  trademark. These 'common-law' rights are relatively weak, as well as being both expensive and difficult to enforce.
• Registration of a trademark provides much stronger rights that provide protection in the country where it is registered.
• Registration of your corporate name, business name or domain name does not give you the right to use that name. Registration of a trademark is the best way of protecting a name used in business
• After registration, you should monitor the market and the trademarks registry to prevent others from infringing on your trademark
• Because of the complexity of trademark law, most people use a registered trademark agent to search, apply for, register and monitor a registered trademark.

Is it a Trademark That You Really Want or Need?

A trademark, according to the standard definition, is "a mark that has been adopted to distinguish the source of a particular good and/or service from other sources in a similar line of business." For example, ABC Company could be selling its products using the name "Zink" for its packaging, etc. The business name would be ABC Company, and the trademark would be "Zink." If this company wanted to protect "Zink", then it would apply for the registration of the trademark. In this case the business name is different than the trademark.

ABC Company may also wish to protect its corporate name "ABC." It is a common misconception that a business name, trade name or corporate name registration protects the name. In fact, only a trademark can protect a name. In this case, ABC Company would have to use 'ABC' as a trademark and should also apply for a trademark registration.