Building and maintaining a strong brand is critical to a company’s success and competitiveness. And through strong trademark protection, you’re able to protect your company against trademark infringement and strengthen its position on the market. You can protect your brand by registering it with the Swedish Intellectual Property Office (PRV) or by incorporation.
A brand that has achieved an established position on the market and is well known among consumers is protected by trademark protection. Since establishing this requires a lot of time and work, it’s easiest and most efficient to register your brand. That gives your brand formal rights. It protects your brand from others trying to register brands that could be interchangeable with your brand. And it allows you to use the ®-symbol in marketing.
Important things to consider before registering your brand
Distinctiveness is key to strong trademark protection and simply means that your have to be able to distinguish your products or services from others on the market. To ensure your brand is distinctive enough, it shouldn’t be generic or descriptive of the products or services your brand represents.
If your brand is illegal or violates morals or public order, you won’t be able to register it. You also won’t be able to register it if there’s risk of misleading consumers or if your brand is similar to other protected intellectual property rights.
Register for trademark protection
To make sure your brand is protected, you can register it with the Swedish Intellectual Property Office (PRV). Just send an application through their site and pay SEK 2,400 to register your brand for protection in one class. If you want to protect your brand in more classes, additional fees will apply. If you instead choose to register your brand by sending in an application by post, it’ll cost you SEK 3,500. Once you’ve submitted your application, it takes approximately 3-4 months before you receive a response.
Regardless of whether your brand is registered or not, you’ll need to pay for your application. But if your brand is registered, the registration will be valid for ten years. You can then renew your registration provided you pay a fee to PRV. The registration only applies to protection in Sweden. For trademark protection internationally, you’ll have to turn to other means.
International trademark protection
There are ways to secure international protection through various international agreements and organizations. For example, you can apply for EU trademark registration for trademark protection within the EU. The registration can be made with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
You can also register your brand through the so-called Madrid Protocol, a collaboration among over 80 countries worldwide, and which is administered by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization).
