A global managing attorney, Sarah Norkor Anku, is urging business owners to protect their brands by registering trademarks for the exact goods and services they offer.

She warned that skipping this step could give competitors the opportunity to take over their brand identity.

She explained that registering a company is not the same as protecting every product or service under that company. Each product or service must be registered in the correct category to secure full trademark protection.

According to her, businesses operating in different product or service areas require separate trademark registrations for each category.

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She stressed that a trademark protects the elements that make a brand recognisable in the market, such as a name, logo, slogan, or any other symbol associated with the goods and services.

“Your trademark is essentially your brand identifier, how we recognise you in the market. Trademarks can be names, logos, slogans, or any other identifier used to distinguish goods and services,” she told Joy Business.

Anku also shared a cautionary example of a business whose competitor registered its trademark first, resulting in a long and costly legal battle to reclaim it.

DR/MA

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