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In the context of EU intellectual property, a trademark is a sign that identifies a company. It makes it possible to distinguish one brand from another, or more precisely, to differentiate the products or services of one company from the products and services of another company.
In fact, any distinguishing mark can be considered a trademark: it can be a word, design, logo, and even a specific shape, color or sound. In particular, a registered trademark is a symbol that is viewed by the legislature as worthy of protection and protection. Any sign that can characterize the company can be registered and becomes the company's trademark. Because of this, a trademark is a different legal term than a trademark that is widely used in marketing studies. A trademark can be said to be what you protect when you want to register a trademark. Every consumer who knows a company has an idea of its products and services, as well as a general idea of the company as such. That idea is the brand.
Trademark is a recognizable design, phrase, or mark that distinguishes a product or service from a particular source from those of others. Sometimes a mark used to identify a service is called a service mark, especially in the United States. Brand owners can be corporate organizations, legal entities, or individuals and are usually found on a label, packaging, coupon, the product itself, or sometimes even on corporate buildings. The main purpose of a brand is to communicate that the product in question comes from a unique source and to distinguish it from other, similar products. For example, the registration of a trademark serves as protection for a brand name in order to preserve its original authorship.
Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights. Intellectual property refers to a creation of the mind and a monopoly on this mind that is transferred to the owner of this intellectual property and is legally protected. Brands, patents, copyrights and design rights are all part of intellectual property. Any unauthorized use of the trademark by manufacturing or trading counterfeit consumer goods is a violation of intellectual property rights known as trademark piracy. In the event of such an infringement, the trademark owner can take legal action against a trademark infringement.
Reasons for registering and protecting your trademark
Some countries, including the United States and Canada, recognize common law trademark rights that allow steps to be taken to protect a brand name even if no trademark has been registered on it. Nevertheless, compared to registered trademarks, it offers significantly less legal protection. Most countries now require formal trademark registration in order to take legal action against trademark infringement. Below is a quick guide on how to go through the process of registering your own trademark.
If the brand name is already used before the trademark is registered, there is the option of applying for registration based on the concept of commercial use, specifying the commercial use and the date of first use Used. The declaration is usually contained in the standard application form, which must then be submitted to the competent authority with a sample showing the use of the brand name. Before submitting the registration form, it is necessary to search for existing trademarks for a particular brand name - this can be done online.
Recent major trademark infringement cases
There are numerous cases of trademark infringement in the history of industrial property protection. Each of them should remind you that an infringement of intellectual property is just as serious as an infringement of physical property.
# 1 Louis Vuitton versus Louis Vuiton Dak
The fashion designer Louis Vuitton recently won a trademark lawsuit against the South Korean fried chicken restaurant Louis Vuiton Dak. The court ruled that not only was the name of the restaurant too similar to the fashion brand, but the logo and packaging were also very similar to the iconic images of the designer.
# 2 Starbucks versus Freddocino
In 2016, Starbucks took legal action against the company that owns the Coffee Culture Cafe in New York after it launched a drink called Freddocino. Starbucks owns a brand for the term fappucino and states that not only do both names have too many similarities, but that both drinks have the same structure and look.
# 3 3M vs. 3N
3M commenced a lawsuit against a Chinese company using the 3N brand name and won on the grounds that the company had succeeded in gaining customers and a significant market share thanks to its similarities to 3M and its distinctiveness and reputation to win.
Some business people believe that virtual office are an easy and inexpensive way to go global. Others believe that it offers the opportunity to maintain what is most important for successful e-commerce and marketing today - a business presence that can be established in any market.
According to Wikipedia and Investopedia, the virtual office offers address and communication services for a fee, without providing dedicated office space, as it is a business location that exists only in cyberspace and allows employees and business owners to work with technological means from anywhere - PC, laptop, notebook or tablet.
Benefits of using a virtual office
A full application of the term virtual office can include professional live communication. This means that all business meetings can be held online via teleconferencing and video conferencing. Business documents can be shared, signed and sent electronically. There are some significant advantages to doing business in cyberspace.
Most importantly, if the company has several or more employees, each of them can do their work remotely from the location that is most convenient for them and the right to their own lifestyle, sleeping and Resting retains habits and other requirements that can be customized. This means that the company is not limited to hiring employees by expanding the employment opportunities for employees and the hiring opportunities for companies.
This way of doing and arranging business creates such professional new professional occupations as remote receptionist who can use high-tech computer telephone Integration software to communicate with clients, virtual assistant who does not have to meet his or her clients face-to-face and assist them virtually instead and other members of the virtual team.
Virtual teams can provide such services as answering services and call centers which operate from a centralized location in order to receive and transmit a large volume of requests by telephone, voicemail which basically is a low-cost technology service that stores voice messages electronically, voicemail messages can also be converted into email letters in order to ensure high virtual mobility, virtual office space, ensuring a chance to own a high-profile reputed address in a city of employees’ own choice, telephone answering service which bridges the gap between the employee and his or her clients.
In general, virtual office creation is meant to gain and increase efficiency while blending home and work. It saves money, increases mobility and allows low-cost expansion with no long-term commitments and keeping office expenses to a minimum.
Cons of using a virtual office
The other side of a virtual office is that it lacks centralization which results in difficulties rising from reducing everyday work meetings and appointments. In this case employees must be very initiative in order to sustain the existing structure. Lack of interaction may also rise when there is no scheduled everyday communication. These are the interactions that come with a traditional work environment such as lunch breaks and chatting with colleagues about work, life and relationships. When working remotely communication in general can be tough as well.
Lack of face-to-face meeting increases chances for miscommunication and misinterpretation because in this case emailed words or written words can lack the non-verbal cues and the tone of voice that could make it easier to catch up what the person has said and how he or she feels.
There is also lack of opportunities to schedule and plan meetings for instance in order to meet with a client on short notice as it is not possible to arrange meetings in one certain place called office space or office premises.
One of the essential components of building a business today is solid marketing. Many different marketing strategies can be found online with step-by-step instructions from various business gurus. Most of them emphasize the need to build, monitor and manage business online in order to achieve business success. Having a strong online presence doubles your chances of being seen and heard, thus generating interest.
Data collected by Google shows that 97% of consumers use the internet to search for local businesses. For those looking to offer products or services, it makes more sense for the needs of the consumer society to use the internet than just building a business in-store. Having an online presence can strengthen your brand, facilitate communication with your target audience, and attract new customers or partners who are critical to business growth.
Successful content management can build and improve your company's online presence. This can be achieved by making the online content you offer unique and making sure it can be found by search engines - 89% of consumers use it to research an article or service they are interested in, or a Business they want to take advantage of before making a final decision. This is why it is important to work on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) if you want to get real success in online business. SEO can attract more people to your website by making it easier for search engines to find and list them in their results. Search engine optimization, which is essentially about the application of search engine friendly marketing methods and techniques, contributes to more traffic as consumers tend to trust search engines.
Use the internet to grow and grow your business
SEO can help you grow your business by taking advantage of the generous support and advertising of search engines that connect people worldwide to their desired content. Well-known search engines like Yahoo, Bing and Google value new and original content that can work wonders for your online business. Appropriate, current, and high quality content can be seen as the key to search optimization.
Another way to make your company or brand memorable is to use social media marketing. Some customers prefer to check out Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, or other popular social media sites before purchasing a product. 79% of consumers choose to follow or like brands on social networks just to get more meaningful information about the goods the company sells. The information provided in social networks can influence people more than discussing the planned purchase (s) with their relatives or friends, as people are becoming more independent in their personal point of view.
Another effective marketing strategy is video marketing with YouTube. This works well as videos are a great substitute for actual samples of the goods or services being sold. The short video format is really effective at getting people's attention.
There are also a number of other popular marketing strategies, such as email marketing or delivering targeted messages directly to your audience using various email formats (e.g. ShoutOut); Relationship marketing based on building win-win relationships with potential business partners, merchants and consumers; and development marketing, which relates to finding new uses for widely available products or developing, designing, and adopting innovative products. You decide which of these strategies best suits your company.
An audit of a company's financial report is known as an audit. It is usually presented in the company's annual report prepared by auditors. As a rule, it relates to a specific previous accounting period. The audit report, which is based on a selective review of the company's performance, is the mandatory requirement after the audit is complete. The report contains an income statement, a balance sheet, a statement of changes in equity, a cash flow statement and explanations with a summary of the main accounting and valuation methods.
An audit reflects the financial condition of the company at any given point in time, including information that everything that a company owns and owes is properly recorded on the balance sheet and its losses and profits properly valued. The financial report must be prepared in accordance with certain statutory provisions. If the report is prepared, it must be approved by the company's executives (e.g. the board of directors) through an assessment of its accuracy.
Audits can also include: asking formal and informal questions, examining tangible items owned by a company such as mechanical and electrical equipment, obtaining written confirmations, testing and monitoring certain procedures that are carried out on the company's premises.
Auditing standards
The standards for the proper audit of the financial report are set by a government. International Auditing Standards (ISAs) are available on the Internet that contain clear statements that auditors should take into account. They consist of an introduction, objectives, definitions, requirements expressed by the phrase “The examiner should”, application and other explanatory material.
There is also an E-Handbook of International Quality Control, Auditing, Review, Other Assurance, and Related Services Proouncements published in December 2016 and available on the internet with translations in English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, French, Georgian, French, Available in Kazakh, Italian, Serbian, Russian, Spanish and Thai (for more information, see https://www.ifac.org/publications-resources/2016-2017-handbook-international-quality-control-auditing-review-other ). It includes considering laws and regulations when auditing financial statements and amendments and other international standards consisting of new requirements addressing non-compliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) in the IESBA Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.
Basic principles of auditing
There are general principles and responsibilities with regard to the general auditing standards as well as the tasks of the auditor AS 1001. For example, the consideration of materiality when planning and performing an audit, which has a direct effect on the determination of the financial statements. AS 1005, which indicates independence in intellectual attitude, is to be upheld by the auditor or auditors. AS 1010, which stipulates the training and knowledge of the independent auditor and that an independent auditor represents a person who is skilled in accounting and auditing. AS 1015, to explain the duty of care when carrying out work. Other sections of Auditing Standards include general concepts. They contain a detailed description of the audit risk, audit evidence, and the relationship between audit standards and quality control standards. General activities describe the monitoring of the audit assignment, the audit documentation, the work of a specialist and the quality inspection of the assignment. Auditor communications describe communication with audit committees and communications about lack of control in an audit. Audit activities include audit planning, reporting and risk assessment. The auditor's reporting includes requirements for reports, annual financial statements and dates. Matters related to filings under federal securities laws, as well as other matters related to audits, include a perspective on responsibilities and reviews of financial information.
Audits help understand and evaluate the company's activities, take into account the economic aspects of the company that may affect its business, identify risks that can affect the company's financial condition and performance, and then create a business plan that reflects that Company helps to improve all data collected.