What is a trademark?

A trademark is a type of intellectual property that is used to protect the exclusive right to use a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of any of these, to identify goods or services of a particular source. In Massachusetts, a trademark can be registered with the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, which will grant the owner of the trademark the exclusive right to use the trademark within the state. This exclusive right applies only to products or services that are similar to those of the trademark’s owner, and it grants an advantage over competitors that would otherwise be identical to the trademarked product or service. This makes a trademark an effective way to distinguish specifically branded products and services from competitors. In addition to legal protection, trademarks are also an important form of marketing, as they serve to increase the public knowledge of a product or service and can become associated with the quality of that product. As a result, companies invest in trademark protection to protect their branding efforts.

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What is a trademark?

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