4 Reasons to Register Your Brand’s Trademark Internationally

Today, protecting a registered trademark comes with a slew of challenging aspects, the most notable of which is extending this protection on an international scale. While this may seem like a daunting task, there is plenty of incentive to go through all this trouble. The following are some of the top reasons for extending trademark protection globally.

1. In the age of e-commerce, your products can now easily reach international markets

One of the most significant advantages of e-commerce is that it becomes easy for your brand to reach out to global consumers. It solely depends on the business owner where to ship their products, which makes accessing international marketplaces an excellent opportunity for growth.

Once your products reach other markets, you may grow in popularity with your brand and registered trademarks. Entities with malicious intentions could exploit your popularity by imitating your trademark logo, name, and other brand marks for their benefit. This would hurt you in the long run as it might cause a decrease in reputation and profit potential.

By extending the protection of your registered trademark in Singapore in these regions, you can deter other businesses from trying to confuse your growing audience by using a similar trademark or name to yours.

2. Your brand becomes vulnerable to overseas counterfeiters

Apart from those trying to make a profit by using your brand, others may want to take things even further and completely replicate your products and all the other registered trademarks for their gain. This is plausible given the booming counterfeit industry in some countries and how there are still companies that downplay international trademark registration. Therefore, registering your trademarks globally can significantly stifle and prevent the flow of illegal goods that bear your brand’s name and marks.

3. Your supply chain may involve international commerce

Even if you do not plan to go international or sell your goods outside of your own country, there may still be a global reach in other ways. For example, the manufacturing supply chain.

Depending on your products and how they are made, it is essential to know where your suppliers and their suppliers operate. Hence, you may need to register your trademarks wherever your supply chain is involved. Doing so will prevent situations such as subcontractors potentially appropriating your name illicitly to benefit from their involvement with your brand.

These organisations may be tempted to, for example, portray themselves as a subsidiary or division of your brand. By extending your registered trademark coverage, you can better control and prevent these situations as other companies will be deterred from even trying.

4. You could easily register your trademark rights in different countries via the Madrid Protocol

Depending on the business’s origin country and the countries they want to register their trademark in, filing via the Madrid Protocol offers fewer application steps that facilitate access to international protection (based on local laws). It allows trademark owners to submit a single trademark application through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which then be extended to other member countries of the protocol, allowing for substantial savings when registering trademarks in other regions.

Note that these applications must meet all the local standards of the origin country, and they must vigorously protect the business’s mark to prevent potential cancellation or challenges. All in all, the existence of the Madrid Protocol presents a compelling case for international trademark registration.

Conclusion

In today’s age, where more and more businesses reach foreign markets, registering trademarks internationally is becoming more critical. At Cat and Pillar, we help simplify this process through our convenient and comprehensive range of trademark registration services in Singapore.

We help protect your brand in Singapore and the countries you wish to do business in just a few steps. All you need to do is fill out our online form with the relevant details of your trademark. For more information on our trademark services, such as trademark renewal in Singapore, you can visit our website at https://www.catandpillar.com/.