Brand Protection: Why Protect Your Brand And How?
According to a survey conducted by Anti-Counterfeit Authority’s (ACA) and dubbed 'Counterfeits and other Forms of Illicit Trade in Kenya in 2018', counterfeits accounted for 77% of the total businesses losses in 2018.’ This shows that trade in illicit products and counterfeits increased in 2018 compared to the total reported losses in 2017. Based on the international trade statistics, the total value of illicit trade was KES 726 billion in 2017 and KES 826 billion in 2018, a rise of 14%.
A. Introduction
According to a survey conducted by Anti-Counterfeit Authority’s (ACA) and dubbed 'Counterfeits and other Forms of Illicit Trade in Kenya in 2018', counterfeits accounted for 77% of the total businesses losses in 2018.’ This shows that trade in illicit products and counterfeits increased in 2018 compared to the total reported losses in 2017. Based on the international trade statistics, the total value of illicit trade was KES 726 billion in 2017 and KES 826 billion in 2018, a rise of 14%.
The Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008, defines counterfeiting as acts such as the manufacture, production, packaging, labelling and distribution of goods which are identical, confusingly or substantially similar to goods protected under trademark without the authority of the registered owner. Internationally, trade in counterfeits is considered as an organised crime.
With counterfeiting of consumer goods on the rise, it is increasingly becoming important to protect your brand from counterfeiters, copyright pirates and other infringers.
One of the most valuable assets of your business is the brand that you create. Most consumers associate the quality of a product with the brand, for instance purchasers of Bata Shoes associate the quality of the shoes with Bata the brand. A strong brand therefore, may lead to high purchase power. Brand protection is key for any business success.
A brand is an identifying mark for your products. It is the mark or symbol used to distinguish your products from your competitor’s products.
B. Why Brand Protection?
The importance of protecting your brand is to ensure that your products can easily be identified and distinguished from the products of your competitors. Protecting your brand will enable you to create goodwill with customers which will result in loyalty and increase in revenue generation.
Brand protection entails, protecting the company’s intellectual property rights against counterfeiters and infringers. This protection can be proffered by registering a trademark.
When you register a trademark, it gives your company the exclusive right to prevent others from marketing identical or similar products under the same or a confusingly similar mark.
C. What can be trademarked?
A word, symbol, design or a combination of these that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others can be trademarked. Trademarks Act (Cap 506) describes a mark as a distinguishing guise, slogan, device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter or numeral or any combination thereof whether rendered in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form.
The trademark may consist of one or more distinctive words, letters, numbers, drawings, pictures, signatures, colors or a combination of all these.
Service Mark is a sign which serves to distinguish services of one entity from another. It may consist of the same characteristics as those of a Trademark.
Some examples of common trademarks are like: “KTN” which is a registered mark of the Standard Group or “OMO” which is a registered trademark of Unilever Group.
D. Trademark Registrability
The law governing trademarks registration in Kenya is the Trademarks Act, Chapter 504, Laws of Kenya, the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) is responsible for examining and granting of patents and trademarks in Kenya. KIPI operates under the Industrial Property Act 2001.
For a trademark to be registrable it must meet one of the following requirements:
a) The applicant for registration of a trademark must be either a company, firm or individual represented in a special or particular manner;
b) an invented word or invented words;
c) a word or words having no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods, and not being according to its ordinary signification a geographical name or a surname; or
d) it must be distinctive.
A mark is not registrable if it is identical with or nearly resembling a mark already registered in respect to the same goods or services.
It is thus advisable that a search be conducted before applying for registration of a mark to ascertain that a similar mark does not already exist on the register of trademarks. Once a search is conducted and the name is available for registration then you can proceed to make an application at KIPI.
HOW WE CAN HELP
CM SME Club is happy to help you in protecting your brand through registering a trademark. We will guide you through the required documentation for registering a trademark and assist in the registration process. In case of any clarifications or need for assistance kindly contact us through cmsmeclub@cmadvocates.com.
Published on Aug. 22, 2024, 1:10 p.m.