A trade mark is a badge of commercial origin that enables the goods or services of one undertaking to be distinguished from those of another by a consumer. By registering a trade mark, and using the trade mark for labelling goods and/or services of your business, you create a brand which is protected by law. This is a very powerful IP tool, and can add significantly to the value of your business. Once established, it is important to enforce your rights in the trade mark, to ensure that your reputation and goodwill engendered in the trade mark are not diluted in the eyes of your consumers.

A trade mark can comprise words, logos, pictures, acronyms, numbers, shapes or a combination of these elements, provided the composite trade mark is:

• Distinctive
• Not descriptive of the goods or services in respect of which registration is sought, for example, FAST N'FRIES for take away food.
• Not laudatory, for example, THE BEST or SUPER
• Not identical or confusingly similar to an earlier registered trade mark.

Trade mark owners should be aware that trade marks can "acquire" distinctiveness by virtue of their commercial use. This "use" can be sufficient to push a trade mark over the threshold of registrability.

• To immediately create a brand , which is protected by law
• To obtain a monopoly right in the use of a trade mark in relation to the goods or services for which it is registered
• The ability to sue an unauthorised user of an identical or confusingly similar trade mark for trade mark infringement
• To preserve and protect the reputation and goodwill accrued in a trade mark
• To deter others from using an identical or similar trade mark
• The ability to license a registered trade mark

Whilst a trade mark can be used on an unregistered basis, it is usually considered more straightforward and less costly to rely on a trade mark registration and the law of trade mark infringement, than to pursue redress under the common law tort of Passing Off. Moreover, in order to assert enforceable unregistered rights in a Passing Off action, a trade mark will most likely have to be used for a considerable period of time or on a considerable scale throughout the UK. In contrast, a trade mark registration confers monopoly rights, even before the trade mark has been used.