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A trademark can be any word, tagline, logo or symbol, phrase, abbreviation or number, sound mark, smell mark, motion mark, variety of shape, packaging, or a combination of these that has the ability to distinguish goods and services from others. Trademarks help the public identify the quality and origin that comes from a specific source.
Pharmaceutical trademarks are similar to trademarks that can distinguish health care products and services from other products and services. The name of a pharmaceutical product or service may originate from distinctive characteristics such as chemical structure or ingredient, so two product/drug and service names may sound similar.
Confusing drug names is one of the most common causes of medication errors and is a matter of concern globally. There are many medicines available on the market, so the chances of error due to confusing medicine names are high. This includes all registered and unregistered trademark medicines. The names of many medicines look or sound like the names of other medicines. Before approving new product names, conduct rigorous risk assessments for error and both non-proprietary and brand names.
Errors occur due to shared linguistic properties between names (phonetic or spelling), and the likelihood of error is increased by similar packaging, tablet appearance, tablet strength, route of administration, therapeutic indication, illegible handwriting, incomplete knowledge of drug names, newly available products, similar clinical uses, dosage forms, and the ability of manufacturers and regulatory authorities to fail to recognize.
Trademarks plays an important role in the pharmaceutical sector and offer several advantages:
Protection: A trademark prevents others from copying or using your brand name and gives you the full right to take legal action under trademark law if the registered trademark is used unconditionally by other owner. Trademarks can encourage manufacturers to ensure the safety of their existing drugs and invest in new drugs.
Identification: Companies spend a lot of effort, time, and money to create a unique drug so that buyers can get better quality. Hence, pharmaceutical trademarks are important because they help consumers find their desired products, which builds the reputation of the brand and also encourages the pharmaceutical company to maintain the quality of its goods. Pharmaceutical trademarks help to identify a particular product or service as belonging to a specific source and reduce potential confusion among the public.
Avoiding medication errors: Pharmaceutical trademarks can also help reduce medication errors in health care settings. Moreover, a strong trademark helps people choose the right medicines.
Global Recognition and Expansion: Pharmaceutical trademarks can help a company gain global recognition and as pharmaceutical companies expand their business globally, status trademarks facilitate recognition across borders and cultural boundaries. A well-designed trademark can transcend language barriers, helping international consumers identify and trust the brand. This recognition can significantly influence market entry and facilitate successful expansion into new markets.
Trademark registration for a new drug or product requires a unique name, or design/logo obtaining trademark registration and legal approval is extremely difficult and time-consuming. Typically, pharmaceutical products are sold worldwide, which means pharmaceutical companies must choose a trademark that is available in every country where the product will be sold.
To ensure that their chosen mark isn’t already in use and that their branding doesn’t have a bad connotation in certain jurisdictions, businesses must conduct a global trademark search. Before attempting to sell a pharmaceutical product, it is crucial to get approval from the appropriate trademark registries as well as from health authorities.
Trademark search: Trademark Search provides detailed information about pharmaceutical trademarks, including all similar, phonetic, similar-sounding, misspelled, abbreviated, and translated trademark details registered and filled worldwide, which will help in saving time, costs, and efforts.
A worldwide trademark search also helps in getting an idea of what type of name or design can be chosen for a pharmaceutical product or service.
Trademark Monitoring: It is very important to monitor the trademark or design after registration of a pharmaceutical trademark to detect if anyone is misusing, intending to register, or copying the identical, phonetic, similar-sounding, misspelled, abbreviated, and translated trademarks through global or internet websites. The trademark monitoring report provides detailed information about the trademark based on the delivery method as per the company’s choice, which helps in taking legal action against and preventing the use of the trademark by other owners.
When choosing a pharmaceutical trademark, there are several factors to consider, including:
We use the key points below to cover all potential and relevant pharmaceutical trademark outcomes in the report.
Wissen Research has a team of trademark experts who have over 10 years of experience in global trademark searches for various worldwide clients, with graduate degrees in the pharmaceutical sector, e.g., microbiology, biotechnology, and science, etc.
Authored by – Nitesh Chouhan
Edited by : Guniyal Bagga
