PR for People Monthly May 2015 | Page 6

It hardly needs to be said that the world has changed dramatically in the last decade or so. The proliferation of social media has done more to transform communication and branding than anything since… well, maybe since moveable type.

And it’s not going away or slowing down. If anything, the world is getting ever smaller and noisier. So how do you project and protect a brand in the digital age? The short answer is there are steps you can take, but they will only get you so far.

First, the basics: trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and rights of privacy/publicity. Each protects different aspects of intellectual property and your brand.

In the simplest sense, whether you are focused on the company name – such as Nike or Apple – or a logo or design – such as the Nike Swoosh or McDonald’s Golden Arches – trademarks are brand indicators. They can even protect your packaging, called “trade dress” – the most famous example of which is the classic Coca Cola bottle. Whether a word, design, logo, smell or color, the idea is that if a consumer becomes aware of the trademark, he or she will think about your company as the source of that good or service. In the United States (unlike most of the world), trademark rights are acquired by use, not by registration. But registration provides numerous additional rights, and is a very good idea. It is also not too expensive. In choosing your mark, think globally, not locally. Trademarks are protected by county, so you have to consider where you want to take your brand.

Then there are copyrights. A copyright protects an original creative work set down in tangible form. It requires only a modicum of creativity, but does not apply to useful articles (except to the extent the artistic and the utilitarian can be separated). Moreover, a single work can be protected by both trademark and copyright. Be very careful here to ensure that you own the work. Just because you hire a logo or artwork or website designer and tell them what you want and pay them, absent a work for hire/assignment agreement you do not own the original work. Unlike trademarks, copyrights are, thanks to treaties, largely global. If you have a copyright registered in the US, you are pretty much okay.

Protecting Your Brand in the

Brave New World

By Randy Freidberg