Maria Sinatra examines key intellectual property considerations for coffee businesses seeking to protect their brands in CoffeeTalk Magazine. The following is an excerpt:
Congratulations! Your business is off the ground, you are selling high-quality products and services, and your customers love you. At this point, you're probably wondering: "How do we protect what we've built?" Brand protection is unfortunately not a one size fits all situation, and is often highly dependent on a company's life cycle, goals, and budget. However, there are common steps that retailers, roasters, and wholesalers can typically take to strengthen their intellectual property protection and reduce the risk of potential infringement liability.
WHAT ASPECTS OF A BRAND IDENTITY CAN A BUSINESS LEGALLY PROTECT?
The lawyerly answer is that it depends. Two basic intellectual property tools coffee-industry brand owners may use to protect their brand are trademarks and copyrights.
A trademark is a source identifier – often word(s), phrases, designs or logos that your customers (and other members of the public) use to identify your company as the source of their cup of coffee, fresh packaged coffee beans, baked goods, or coffee equipment. In the coffee industry, companies use trademarks at multiple points of contact with consumers, including, but not limited to, at retail locations (e.g., through signage and product packaging), in connection with online retail websites, and in connection with other merchandise, such as apparel, cups, or hats. In some instances, coffee-industry customers may also encounter your trademarks through other online touchpoints if you have a mobile application in connection with your business, allow online ordering through a third-party website, distribute emails related to customer loyalty programs, or actively promote your business on social media.
For the full article, click here.