Brand name graphics, design and legal terms
A simple discussion with a trademark attorney can easily get confused over the seemingly slightest thing as terms for logos and logo parts. Even as I note this, the word logo in the public domain is a common general name for any form of a brand identification signature. In the design world you hear things like bug, ID mark, brand, corp- mark , sig, signature, brand identity , sign, brand icon, logotype, monotype, monogram , name mark , tag and trademark. And unless you see it, you do not know what is specifically being referred to. Not so in the legal world . I think most every trademark attorney would know exactly what kind of trademark visual to think about when they hear the words ’standard character word’, ’stylized mark’, composite mark’ and ‘design device’. We refer to the ’standard character word’ as ‘generic type’. The ’stylized mark’ as a ‘logotype’. We call the ‘composite mark’ as a ‘mark logotype jointure ‘ and the ‘design device’ a ’solo mark’. No matter here. What does matter is understanding which form is best used in certain circumstances….later.
’standard character word, stylized mark, compost mark and design device.
February 10th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Is there a good resource for identifying cross-talk? As you pointed out terms are often used imprecisely by designers. It seems worthwhile for free-lancers or other people who may not be as familiar with these legal technicalities to brush up on them.
February 10th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Natos, thanks for your comment. We haven’t come across any neat reference spelling this out. The best resource to ID cross-talk is the specific legal person you might be interacting with. They all have their own way agreeing with designer lingo. Legal is into guarding against infringement of sight, sound and meaning of what is trying to be protected. How the name sounds needs to be protected. How the name looks ( if stylized in any way) needs protected, a mark needs protection as well as the combination of them all appearing in a single unit.
Protecting meaning is interesting. The example often used is the case of Cyclone Fencing winning a case against Tornado Fencing citing confusion of meaning.