Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
Divorce, Maintenance, Personal Injury, Medical Negligence
I decided to trademark some of the terms used by my firm, and it has taken an incredible amount of time. The first trademark that I obtained is our website address www.accidentclaim.co.za and because it is now a trademark of my firm, Google will have to prevent any competitor trying to advertise against my website address – which, sadly, a few attorneys have tried. Google is not interested in complaints from people outside of America about your “ownership” of your website address unless you have a trademark, so that became important.
The other trademark that we have obtained and there are some others pending on other phrases, is the phrase “Trust the name you know”. In other words, no other law firm may use the phrase “trust the name you know” in any of their advertising. My concern though about the process is that it really takes a very long time to obtain a trademark, and businesses need to be able to protect themselves and foreign businesses need to be encouraged to get involved in South Africa and their intellectual rights need to be capable of protection and of far speedier registration. The trademark I have been awarded, which incidentally is back-dated, was applied for as far back as 2011. Trademarks such as this have to be renewed every 10 years.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Tuesday 29-Jul-14
Post a Comment
Comments
Angelique said:
on Wednesday 30-Jul-14 03:36 PM
It definitely sounds like a nightmare, it takes years to get it done and then needs to be renewed with more money being spent on renewing it. I wonder if it is really worth it?
Sorea said:
on Tuesday 29-Jul-14 05:10 PM
I hope to never have to deal with intellectual property. I had an elective at Varsity that dealt with it and I must say that from the general discussions there, it seems to be a bit of a headache.
Monique said:
on Tuesday 29-Jul-14 02:00 PM
Very interesting. My father has also had to trademark certain things and the process really is a nightmare.
Alexis said:
on Tuesday 29-Jul-14 11:36 AM
I remeber working for my last company and had to deal with such things as these, Yes it does take a very long time in order to trademark anything, but that is unfortunately the process
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
