What is a trademark and what does it protect?

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]I'm Amira Dibi, a patent and trademark attorney with the DBI IP Group. Today, I want to talk to you guys about trademarks, why they're important, what they are. We get a lot of people that contact us and they don't quite know what a trademark is, but it's crucial to understand what a trademark is so that you can really protect your brand in the marketplace. A trademark is essentially a symbol that people associate with a certain good or service. Trademark identifies the source of the goods or services. So, when a consumer buys a product, they know the quality they can expect based on the brand that's associated with it. Some common trademarks that everyone is familiar with would be, for example, the word Nike or the slogan "Just do it." That would be an example of a word mark. Or the swoosh symbol. That would be an example of a design mark. These are all examples of trademarks that people are really intimately familiar with and associated with a particular class of, for example, apparel or sporting goods.

[00:00:55]And when you buy the particular good, you know the quality that you can expect. That's why trademarks are so essential, right? Because they allow you to distinguish yourself in the marketplace and actually protect your brand so that consumers will opt to buy your good or service over a competitor's.