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Protect Your Business Right Now
The logo, also known by some as a logotype or brand logo, is one of the most important elements for any business. This symbol, or set of symbols, will represent the visual identity of your company and will communicate all the values and aspects of your brand. And of course, it is the one that will capture the attention of consumers.
Because the logo means all of this, it is important to be aware that it is not an easy task to create a logo that is effective in conveying your message and that at the same time can be easily applied in all areas of your communication strategy, both offline and online.
Now, with all this complexity in creating the ideal logo for your brand, do you want to run the risk of having it stolen from you and being forced to change it? Surely that is not what you want, right? That is why, right after creating your logo, you have to secure the copyright for the creation. Keep reading to find out more details!
What is logo copyright registration?
Well, a company’s logo is the main element that distinguishes a given product or service from its competitors. Therefore, when creating the logo design, it is important and necessary to somehow guarantee the protection of this creation, after all, this is the only way to prevent third parties from copying it.
For this reason, it is essential to register the copyright of your logo. We are talking here about the registration that proves your authorship of the graphic symbol, protecting its improper use by third parties. In addition, it also proves who is the owner of the logo, that is, who is the true “owner”.
It is worth noting that many people may also know the logo as a brand logo. Nowadays, it is very common to see people from all backgrounds and segments using the terms as synonyms, due to the similarity in the way they are understood and written. However, these terms have peculiarities and differences in their use.
A logo is a stylized representation of the name of a professional or company. The composition is formed by the letters of the company name, stylized in symbols, colors, topologies and effects.
The term brand logo is considered misleading in the world of design and advertising. It is generally used to designate the composition of a logo with a company symbol. Now that you know this, let’s eliminate the term brand logo and replace it with logotype.
Why should I copyright my logo?
The purpose of the copyright registration service is to offer a way to prove the authorship of the work, registered under the responsibility of the applicant, with sufficient legal characteristics to give him complete security.
So, if there is a violation of copyright, such as unauthorized use by third parties or plagiarism, you have a legally sufficient and accepted instrument to support an agreement or even a lawsuit.
When you apply for copyright registration for your logo, you will receive a copyright certificate that is valid as “proof of prior art” in 192 countries. But what is prior art, after all? The key element of copyright. By certifying this prior art, you are attesting that no one else has created the intellectual work, in this case, the logo.
After all, what are the main benefits of registering copyright?
See below the main benefits you gain when registering your copyright:
- Protection in all areas of activity with just one registration.
- International validity (192 countries) of the registration. The Copyright Law protects your work everywhere. This makes it much easier to prove plagiarism and claim your rights.
- There is no renewal fee: the registration is valid for the author’s entire life and for 70 years after his death.
- The process is simplified and less bureaucratic, with the certificate being delivered in a short space of time.
- It is completely safe, therefore impossible to counterfeit.
- It protects moral rights (rights linked to the author’s personality) and property rights (which refer to the economic use of the work) with complete clarity.
What is the difference between registering a trademark with the INPI and registering the copyright of a logo?
A very common question regarding this process is whether there is a difference between registering copyright and registering a trademark with the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property). Do you know why this confusion occurs? Because both are types of intellectual property protection and are very similar in some aspects.
With this in mind, we decided to explain to you the difference between registering a trademark with the INPI and registering a logo’s copyright. The first concerns the legal regulation of a specific identity, which is necessary for you to have certain privileges, such as the right to market your trademark rights.
Before we talk about copyright registration, we need to remember the concept. So, copyright is a set of rights granted by law to the creator of an intellectual work, whether artistic, literary, musical, logos, layouts, etc. The objective is to protect these intellectual works, as well as the exclusive right of the author to benefit from the economic and moral rights of the work, or even to assign them for exploitation by third parties through a license agreement for the use of the work.
Given this, you can already imagine that registering the copyright of the logo will facilitate access to the rights of the project, which are: exclusivity of the work and preventing third parties from using it without the creator’s authorization. Remember that the exclusivity is only for the logo art, that is, there is no protection for the name that is in the logo, since this is the function of the Trademark Registration.
Copyright registration will not protect the phonetic part of your company’s brand, however, it is a completely valid document so that you can prevent third parties from using or plagiarizing your logo for any purpose.
Unlike trademark registration at INPI, copyright registration is not limited to classes or segments (once registered, the logo is protected in any field of activity) and protection is international.
It is worth noting that both registrations are complementary. Therefore, when you secure both registrations, you have much more complete protection against any type of use of your brand elements, whether phonetically (when a third party uses the same brand as your company in the same segment) or graphically (when a third party copies your logo, for example).
How to copyright a logo?
Registration is done through the National School of Fine Arts (Rio de Janeiro). The Copyright Department of the School of Fine Arts was created on March 10, 1917, and there are already approximately 75 thousand registrations. These include registrations of logos, photographs, comic book characters, paintings, sculptures, engravings, drawings, among others.
After requesting registration, the National School of Fine Arts will issue the certificate, which will contain all legal information related to the logo and its owner.
The process of registering a logo copyright, as well as all other protections related to Intellectual Property, requires great care. Therefore, to avoid making mistakes, it is best to count on the support of VILAGE: a specialized company that will monitor all the information and handle document requests correctly. This way, you can rest assured about the process, as you will be informed about each update until your registration request is accepted and finalized.
Who can register?
All people who create the logo or people who hold copyright over the work, transferred by contract or inheritance, can request registration to have legal security and, thus, facilitate or avoid the resolution of possible conflicts through public certification of the declaration of ownership or authorship over the intellectual work.
Reliable process of how to register a logo
We believe it is now quite clear why you cannot ignore registering your logo. You will be investing in something very important that will guarantee your rights and further protect your company. And of course, hiring a specialist will always be the most reliable way to do this.
At VILAGE, for example, you can count on a team of professionals who work with this type of registration on a daily basis. They are people ready to provide all the necessary guidance and to prevent errors from occurring in this process.
You will be updated on every step, and you can be confident in the knowledge, skill and technical quality of our specialists, which will significantly reduce your waiting time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Copyright registration protects the logo design. It does not protect the phonetic part of your brand, but the document will prevent other people from plagiarizing or using your logo, regardless of the industry.
When you open your company and before publishing your created logo. Although it is not mandatory, it works as a complement to Trademark Registration, providing additional and very important protections for your business.
A single registration is valid in 192 countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention. Brazil is on the list.
The registration is valid for the lifetime of the author (the person who created the logo) and for a further 70 years after his death.
It is not limited to a segment, product or service. Therefore, the unauthorized use of a logo, even with a different written part, is considered plagiarism, regardless of the segment. A clothing company can sue a beverage company that copied the design of its logo, for example, which does not happen with Trademark Registration, which is limited to the segment in which it was protected.
Copyright registration is not done with the INPI. Logo registrations are done with the National School of Fine Arts (Rio de Janeiro).
Copyright is useful for proving the originality of a work and making it clear who the true author is, who is responsible for creating the logo and who holds the legal rights. If your work is plagiarized, you have a few options to protect yourself, such as gathering all the evidence that proves that your creation is being used inappropriately; trying to resolve the issue amicably; contacting the hosting site (if it is in a virtual environment) and, finally, suing the person who committed plagiarism through legal action.
