Function of Public Relation

8/8/2019 Function of Public Relation

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What the function of public

relations.What and why sort of controls areplaced upon advertisers’.The value of a trademark. Whyshould it be registered?

2008 ALI ZULFIKAR ZAHEDI

N E E D A N D F E E DFoundation

www.needandfeed.org

BBA, PGDPM, MBA, DIP IN AD (UK)



ALI ZULFIKAR ZAHEDI BBA, PGDPM, MBA, DIP IN AD (UK)

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What the function of public relations

Public relations is the art and science of building relationships between an

organization and its key publics

Public Relations is a management function which evaluates public attitudes,

identifies the politics of an individual or an organization within the public interest

and then plans and executes a program of action geared at earning public

understanding and acceptance. This means advising management on public

reaction to possible management decisions, as well as the planning and

dissemination of messages to the public(s), for the purpose of gaining support and

understanding. It can be said the function of public relation as below:

• PRESS RELATION

• PROCDUCT PUBLICITY

• CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

• PUBLIC AFFAIRS

• LOBBYING

• EMPLOYEE AND INVESTOR RELATION

• CRISIS MANAGEMENT

The public relations function

Public relations programmes encompass both marketing and corporate

dimensions:

Marketing public relations is used in conventional marketing situations to

influence customers. As such, it forms part of the marketing communications mix

which also encompasses advertising, direct response, sales promotion and

personal selling.

The principal decision to be made when formulating a marketing communication

plan lies between a push strategy and a pull strategy, or more likely the

combination of the two.

• Push strategy: involves directing effort at intermediaries so that they are

motivated to direct their promotional effort at customers, thereby

pushing the product down the distribution channel.




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• Pull strategy: involves aiming promotional activities at end users so that

they demand the product from intermediaries, thereby pulling the

product down the distribution channel.

Corporate public relations is used to influence customer and non- customers

publics and is particularly relevant in a marketing context when these publics

have to be influenced in order to gain market entry. An example of this is a pass

strategy which has become increasingly important as public and media attention

focus not only on an organisation’s products and services, but also its response to

critical issues facing society at large:

• Pass strategy: applies when there is a need to enter markets blocked or

protected by parties other than end users; examples include

government, pressure groups, and other opinion formers, as well as

employees

In reality most marketing communications campaigns use a mixture of both push

and pull, although emphasis might be placed on one strategy or the other.

Frequently corporate public relations will be employed in parallel to implement a

pass strategy to address markets where access is constrained either by non-

customers target audiences or non-product related issues. Examples might

include a lobbying campaign to amend the regulatory climate or an educational

programme to overcome concerns over the introduction of new technology.

The functions of Public Relations (PR) can be grouped into two loose categories:

• Organizational

• Societal.

Many viewpoints of the functions fall into both categories and are not mutually

limited. The scope of organizational functions of PR involves actions concerning

the company, and societal functions of PR interests' activities regarding society.

Organizational functions of PR are activities that interact with or affect

organizations while societal functions of PR have to do with actions that connect

to the public. Communications management, media, government affairs,publicity, investor relations, community relations, consumer relations, and

employee relations are organizational functions while marketing communications,

consumer relations, public affairs and issues management plus social

responsibility are societal functions. An industry must develop a positive




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The functions of public relations take many forms in different organizations.

Public relations specialists handle organizational and societal functions such as

media, community, consumer, industry, and governmental relations as well as

political campaigns, interest-group representation, conflict mediation, oremployee and investor relations.

Public relations specialists handle organizational functions such as media,

publicity, employee relations, investor relations, community relations, consumer

relations and government affairs.

To make clear about the function of public relation we must know what does

Public Relations Include.

Presenting the company favourably includes monitoring, counselling, and

communication. The first two, when undertaken by an outside public relations

practitioner, mean that must monitor the marketing environment for

developments likely to affect the client’s business, and counsel the client on how

to deal with. If company are doing own public relations, this will be an automatic

part of the business. Company also need to communicate.

A. Effective Communication You put out any positive information you can about your company, your product,or your staff. You work to maintain or improve reputation, change attitudes,

assuage doubts. You get your picture in the paper if you only send a photograph

of your new office manager to the Sunday papers for use in their Finance section.

You communicate through newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, newsletters and

house magazines, by fax, e-mail, and of course by word of mouth.

i. External Public Relations

External Public Relations means establishing active channels of communication,

maintaining good relationships with the media people in your area, and proving

to them that you are a sound source of genuine, topical news. It means getting

the name of your company before the public in any way you can.

ii. Internal Public Relations




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Internal Public Relations, considered just as important as external public relations,

means, in brief, communicating well with your staff. Make sure your staff are kept

informed and happy. Your own employees have great power to spread goodwill.

Keeping staff aware of company activities and making them feel part of the ‘firm’

can be done through induction and training courses, discussion groups, in-house

magazines and newsletters, films, videos and talks - but mostly by sound

employee and labour relations.

The most cogent method of communication is still word of mouth

communication, and the message:

• Their friends and relations;

• Company’s suppliers;

• Company’s clients;

• Distributors, wholesalers, retailers.

Company’ employees practice public relations on company behalf. The

telephonist and receptionist, for instance, play a vital role in conveying the public

image. A telephonist, who speaks poorly, leaves callers hanging on indefinitely or

a receptionist who fails to give messages or is not pleasantly communicative can

counteract any good that is done by your advertising or publicity campaigns.

B. the Corporate Identity Establishing a corporate identity is achieved by the total of the communications

put out by and about company. It is the image of company projects to the public.

It covers a whole range of image-builders:

i. the stationery

ii. The logo

iii. The vehicles

iv. The staff: their uniforms, their efficiency, their attitudes

V. the advertising

vi. The products and/or services

vii. The literature: brochures, leaflets, packaging, etc., as well as your public

relations campaigns.

C. Communicating through the Media Public relations are far more than simply sending out the occasional press release.

It is useful to initiate and maintain friendly contact with thelocal media, so that




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company ring up the contact (who may be the editor, the sports or financial

editor, a reporter or whoever) and suggest that they may be interested in some

news company have, or in attending a function. Larger business may call the

occasional press conference to convey specific news.

It is also useful to know what possibilities exist on the local radio station and, of

course, probably the biggest publicity scoop company can make is to appear on

one of the TV magazine programmes.

Among the communications that company may need to prepare are:

• Press releases;

• Brochures, leaflets, letters;

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Speeches;• Annual reports;

• Films, videos, audio-visual presentations;

• In-house magazines and newsletters;

• Invitations;

• Personalised letters;

• Direct mail shots.

Conclusion:

However, public relations are not only about telling the organization's side of the

story. A very important part of the job is to understand the feelings and worries of

consumers, employees, and other groups. To get better communication, public

relations specialists create and preserve. A good public relation can bring:

• Good public relations conducive to larger profits

• A sound public-relations program accelerates sales

• A sound program protects product-reputation

• Use of a public-relations manual as a guide to good practice

• Public Relations are about public relations and communications.

• Public Relations make sure your story reaches the key audiences, the

people company need to reach.




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• Public Relations is about getting company story out to the people that help

the industry analysts, the trade media, the newspaper and magazine

editors – and have them become company's evangelists.

• Public Relations are about strategy, best utilizing time and resources tobring in the quality press that company’s desire.

• Public Relations are about building smart relationships – building a network

of media that will help a company grow and prosper.

• Public Relations are about servicing clients.

• Public Relations works with its clients to develop a specialized

communications model that anticipates a company's needs and helps

leverage public relations as a strategic business advantage.

• Public Relations offer companies the most value for their investment.




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What and why sort of controls are

placed upon advertisers

Factors to ConsiderThe placement of advertising material can change the local environment. There is a need toboth protect the risk posed to the travelling public by inappropriate positioning of advertisingmaterial and to manage the impact the signage has on aesthetic values (i.e. visual pollution).Although there are some controls in the District Plan the majority are placed in the currentBylaw 21 Signs and Hoardings.There are a significant number of businesses not complying with the current bylaw. When asign is identified as not meeting the requirements of the Bylaw the business or propertyowner is written to. Recently this has caused concern from some business owners as in

some cases they have had their sign placed in that location for a significant period of time.

Issues to consider include:

SocialMatters dealt with in this policy that could be considered social issues include:

• Public safety and nuisances

• Visual impact on environment

• Provision of information on products and services

• Display of inappropriate messages

• Informing the public of upcoming events and other community activities

EconomicMatters dealt with in this policy that could be considered economic issues include:


• Placing of advertising material on public places

• Benefit received by businesses advertising services or products

• Road and building identification

• Increased activity due to better distribution of information

• The economic benefit to the wider community arising from the advertising of events

• The cost to ratepayers of Council enforcing the bylaw




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EnvironmentalMatters dealt with in this policy that could be considered environmental issues include

• Public safety and nuisance

• Aesthetic impact of signs

• Obstructing public places by placement of signage

CulturalMatters dealt with in this policy that could be considered cultural issues include:


• Advertising of cultural gatherings and celebrations

• Visual impact on environment

• Display of inappropriate messages

The British system of advertising control is tripartite, consisting of direct legislation, statutoryregulation and self-regulation. In the United Kingdom, the first of these plays a much lesssignificant role than in most other countries, because of the existence of the other two.Nevertheless, more than a hundred statutes and regulations can affect advertisers in someway, in England and Wales alone. Many of those apply also to Scotland and to NorthernIreland, both of which have their own relevant legislation in addition. The most significantlaws controlling advertising in Britain are the Trade Descriptions Acts of 1968 and 1972 andthe 1973 Fair Trading Act. The first empowered the government to decide what claims anddescriptions made in advertisements or sales promotions can reasonably be assumed to

mean, and to require the product or service to perform accordingly. The second set up theConsumer Protection Advisory Committee, with the statutory duty to investigate 'consumertrade practices', specifically including advertising and sales promotion, to see if they might'adversely affect the economic interests of consumers'. It also established the Office of FairTrading. The only valid defence an advertiser or advertising agency can offer to prosecutionunder either Act is 'innocent mistake' or the claim to have been relying on informationsupplied which could not reason ably have been verified. Legislative control of advertising inBritain is thus a by-product of the general control of marketing. 'Statutory regulation'describes the special case of control over broadcast advertising. Regulation of television andradio advertising was the responsibility of a single Independent Broadcasting Authority until1990, when general control of the two media was transferred to the INDEPENDENTTELEVISION COMMISSION (ITC) and the RADIO AUTHORITY, respectively. With respectto television advertising, Acts of Parliament charged the ITC and its predecessors with the

statutory duty to draw up a code of standards and devise a mechanism for enforcing it. Theresultant Code of Advertising Standards and Practice states the General Principle that'television advertising should be legal, decent, honest and truthful'. It is elaborated by 40Rules spelling out more detailed Standards and by 5 Appendices dealing specifically with:Advertising and Children; Financial Advertising; Medicines, Treatments, Health Claims,Nutrition and Dietary Supplements; Charity Advertising; Religious Advertising. The ITCdistributes its Code and many periodic advisory leaflets so widely throughout the industrythat no advertiser or agency could credibly claim ignorance of its prohibitions or guidelines.




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The advertising industry is being encouraged to take measures to decrease children'sexposure to the advertising of 'less healthy' foods.

1. Improving nutrition

Improving nutrition Involves improving nutrition within the school and early childhood

environments.

The aim is to ensure that food and drinks high in sugar, fat and salt are no longer provided atschools or early childhood education services.

Approximately 30% of children's daily food intake is consumed at school (this is possiblyhigher for under-5 year olds). By ensuring healthier food is sold and served in schools andearly childhood education (ECE) services, young people's food choices can be influenced.

• Communication and education

• Food and beverage classification system

• Food and Nutrition Guidelines

• Regulation change – National Administration Guideline

• Regulating – ECE Services

2. Student health promotion

Student health promotion Involves promoting healthy food options and providing theincentive and opportunities for students to get actively involved in learning about healthy

nutrition.

3. Self-Imposed Control

The Advertising Standards Authority is the body representing the advertising agencies of theUK. It is administered by the Committee of Advertising Practice which periodically issues anupdated British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing. The majorobjectives of the Advertising Standards Authority are:

• Continually to improve the standard of advertising;• To discourage dishonest and undesirable practices in advertising and related fields.

It seeks to ensure that competitive activity is at all times ethical and that it does not bring thepractitioner body or the industry as a whole into disrepute.

Members of the Advertising Standards Authority should not compete by:

i. disparaging any other member or his work directly or by implication

ii. Circulating harmful rumours about that member






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protect advertising itself. Not only copy, but designs, layouts and TV and radio commercialsare copyright-protected, which prevents a person tearing a page out of a magazine in onecountry and using it in another.

3. The Weights and Measures Act (1985) assures that the content, weight, etc. of a product

is just what it purports to be.

4. The Fair Trading Act (1973) is designed to protect customers and ensure ethical businesspractice.

5. The Obscene Publications Act (1959) and the Indecent Displays (Control) Act (1981)cover the publication and display of anything indecent, obscene or offensive.

6. The Charities Act (1992) controls all charitable appeals and advertising, which mustinclude a registration number.

7. The Food Safety Act (1990), the Medicines Act (1968), various Medicines Regulations

(1978 & 1994), and the Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations (1996) govern the content,labelling and marketing of a wide range of consumer products.

8. 8. The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act (1963) which covers lotteries, competitions,games of chance, sports pools and so on.

9. The Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act (1976) is self-explanatory.






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repurchase a block of its shares to protect itself from any unfriendly acquirers, and to investin areas it considered potentially more attractive.In 1980, Dow Chemical bought Richardson-Merrill’s prescription drug division for $260million worth of Dow shares. The price was calculated at 25 times that division’s pre-taxearnings, and twice its net worth. Dow Chemical wanted to expand its prescription drug

business and was impressed with the potential of Richardson-Merrill’s products still in theresearch stage. For its part, Richardson-Merrill found its prescription drug operations toosmall to support the research and development needed to exploit its products commerciallyin the long term and chose to sellRather than expand by acquisition. In both these cases, the price tags represented largepremiums over tangible assets and reflected the perceived value of intangibles assets,namely, goodwill, expertise, products at the research stage, patents and trademarks. Howmuch of the price in the examples mentioned could be allocated toTrademarks per se are unknown. Experts, however, have .generally accepted. approachesfor valuing businesses with valuable trademarks. The final price is usually the result of oneor more of those approaches and, in the final analysis, some hard-nosed bargainingbetween the two parties.

What’s in a name?The Trademarks Act defines a trademark as:

(1) A mark that is used by a person for the purpose of distinguishing or so as to distinguishwares or services manufactured, sold, leased, hired or performed by him from thosemanufactured, sold, leased, hired or performed by others;(2) A certification mark;(3) A distinguishing guise; or(4) A proposed trademark

The act also defines a trade name as the name under which any business is carried on, be ita corporation, partnership or individual. A trade name must, however, be attached to a

business; it cannot exist in vacuo ; that is, independent of the business enterprise. Atrademark differs from a trade name, then, in that it is used in association with vendiblecommodities or services, while the latter is more properly applied to a business. Goodwill.Trade names may be applied to or used in association with goods, but only to indicate themarketer’s or trader’s name from whom those goods emanate. In other words, a trade namemight also be a trade

mark . Coca Cola, for example. A trader may use more than trademark, but goodwill of his orher business is represented by a single trade name, which remains constant. To illustratethis difference, here are examples of some well-known trademarks:. . Money’s worth and more.. (Sears). .The quality goes in before the name goes on.. (Zenith). .It’s the real thing!. (Coca-Cola)

A company’s success in establishing a recognized trademark depends to a large degree, ofcourse, on its reputation for quality products or services. In most cases, however,trademarks can be developed and maintained through extensive and costly advertising.While patents and copyrights are distinct in themselves (patents deal with the physical artsand sciences, copyrights with products of the intellect), they do have this in common: theyboth protect the substance of the article itself.Trademarks, in comparison, protect only the device or symbol attached to the goods, not thegoods themselves: the goods are open to the world. The trademark’s owner is entitled onlyto prevent it from being used to make purchasers believe they are buying his or her goods




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when, in fact, they are buying those of a rival. Furthermore, patents and copyrights inCanada have limited legal lives. A copyright’s term is forthe life of the author plus 50 years, while a patent’s life is for 17 years. But a trademark, onceregistered, may be renewed at 15-year intervals, without limitation, on payment each time ofthe necessary renewal fees.

Valuation methodsTwo methods are commonly used to value intangibles:

(1) The residual technique (where identifiable intangibles such as patents have a finiteeconomic life) and(2) The excess income method (where identifiable intangibles such as trademarks andunidentifiable intangibles such as commercial goodwill have a perpetual economic life).

In other words, the single most important element affecting a trademark’s value or otherintangibles with indefinite economic lives is the property’s earning power.The adoption of the excess income method implies the use of the dual capitalizationapproach, which recognizes that a different level of may be attributed to tangible assetbacking than to intangible assets, such as goodwill, which is represented by earnings inexcess of a fair rate of return on net tangible assets. While this method recognizes that anintangible property’s earning power is essential in establishing value, it does not enable avaluator to segregate value between identifiable and unidentifiable intangibles. Thissegregation is often required because identifiableIntangibles are often purchased, sold or assigned independently of the business enterpriseowning them. Given that limitation, one of the approaches used more commonly to valuetrademarks per se is theRelief-from-royalty approach. The idea here is that, by owning a trademark, a company isrelieved of the necessity of having to pay someone else a royalty for its use. It follows,therefore, that anyone wanting to obtain the right to this trademark would have to enter into abusiness arrangement with the original owner. Such arrangements, akin to the licensing ofpatents, usually entail a royalty payment, generally a percentage of product sales. Thepercentage will vary depending on a trademark’s strength and visibility and, morespecifically, on:

. The product’s opportunities in the market.

. The product’s integrity: Does it do what it claims to do?

. The security, if any, afforded by a patent, recognizing that most products in thedevelopment stage or in a yet-to-be established market have patents to guard against theirunauthorized use by competitors.. The security of supply of raw materials.

Furthermore, the royalty rate depends on the frequency with which new, acceptable productsenter the market. Generally, the less frequent the entry, the more a market is considered tobe a licensor’s market. Ultimately, the selection of an appropriate royalty rate will take all ofthe characteristics mentioned into account, since the trademark’s user is expected to benefitimmediately from a competitive standpoint.According to experts in trademark valuations, trademarks closely identified with consumerproducts will generally command high royalty rates. much higher than those for goods andservices in the industrial sector. Under the relief-from-royalty method, trademark valuationcomputations generally include consideration of the present value of the annual after-taxstream of revenues. the result of not




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Having to pay royalties. and of the present value of future income tax savings resulting fromclaiming capital cost allowances on a specified portion of a trademark’s cost; that is, the taxshield. To determine the present value of this after-tax stream of future revenues, certainassumptions are generally made regarding the annual estimates of revenues associatedwith the trademark product, the royalty rate, the company’s tax rate and a reasonable rate of

return, normally based on the risk involved in realizing the projected revenues whenconsidered in relation to the type of trademark product being acquired. Where a businessarrangement stipulates that the trademark is to be used for a definite term and then phasedout, its value will gradually diminish over the finite life of the product. For instance, apurchaser might enter into an agreement with a vendor for, say, a five-year term, to use anestablished trademark. This will allow the user to benefit immediately from a competitivestandpoint. Implicit in such an arrangement, though, is the need for the purchaser to have awell-defined marketing plan to replace the existing trademark with another to prevent theerosion of its market position and share. As the new trademark becomes more familiar to themarket, the significance of the old one will fade. It follows that when such an arrangement isused, the relief-from-royalty method should, in addition to the factors mentioned, reflect theestimated rate of decline in the old trademark’s recognition and significance. A purely judgmental and subjective factor. Under Canadian income tax law, a trademark is treated asan eligible capital expenditure. As such, any valuation preceding an arm’s-length taxabletransaction should include both a purchaser’s and a vendor’s perspective of value. From thepurchaser’s viewpoint, the fair market value would include an estimate of the present valueof tax savings resulting from claiming future capital cost allowances. The vendor, on theother hand, would estimate the net proceeds of disposition, after taking the relevant taxcosts into account. Suffice it to say that, in an arm’s-length transaction, the fair market valuewould likely range between the value from a purchaser’s perspective and the after-taxproceeds in the vendor’s hands. The ultimate value would be established, of course, throughnegotiations between the two. In a tax-free transaction involving the Income Tax Act’selective rollover provisions, the purchaser generally assumes the adjusted cost base of thetrademark being acquired. In this case, a deferred tax liability would arise in the purchaser.shands. What then has to be considered is the present value of such a liability which, in mostcases, may not be material, assuming the purchaser willOwn and use the trademark for some time.

Secondary valuation approachesWhere possible, the primary approach to trademark valuation should be supported by one orboth of the following:(1) Carryover benefit of past advertising costs, or(2) Gross profit margin differential.

Carryover benefit of past advertising costs

As mentioned earlier, a recognized trademark is often developed and maintained throughextensive and costly advertising. This approach, which tries to compute the after-tax worth of

future savings in advertising costs, is based on the following premises:. The estimated cost of recreating the position enjoyed by the trademark’s owner at thevaluation date. (Remember, although advertising costs are usually a material and essentialelement in developing and maintaining a product trademark, there are exceptions. Forinstance, in the pharmaceutical industry, product advertising costs are minimal, butrecognition and the significance of product symbols are maintained by a network ofsalespeople in direct touch with doctors).. The product symbol in question is established and reliable.. The establishment, albeit on a purely judgmental basis, of an estimated rate of decline in atrademark’s recognition and significance in consumers. minds. Implicit in this approach is the




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assumption that advertising ceases immediately at the valuation date and that, withoutfurther advertising, the prominence of a recognized product in the minds of consumers startsto decline progressively. Since this first approach is essentially a cost-based one (based,that is, on the estimated cost of recreating the position presently enjoyed by the trademark’sowner), a prudent, knowledgeable

vendor and an equally knowledgeable prospective purchaser would recognize that, inassessing the carryover benefits of past advertising costs, and, hence, a trademark’s value:

(1) Advertising costs Expended over the years by the vendor are, in effect, after-taxadvertising dollars due to their tax-deductible nature;

(2) On the sale of the trademark, only 50% of the gain over the cost base of thisAsset would be taxable for Canadian income tax purposes; the balance would be tax-free;

(3) Funds that would normally have been earmarked by the purchaser for promoting theproduct protected by the trademark need not be spent on such promotion but may insteadbe invested in potentially more lucrative areas. in increasing the business. Operatingcapacity or asset base.

Gross profit margin differential This approach compares the gross profit margins of a product with an established trademarkto a similar .no-name. or generic product. The gross profit margin differential is a function ofa trademark’s reliability and public acceptance, which depends in turn on the product’squality. Generally speaking, the greater the public acceptance, the larger the differential.Since the advent of generic products, however, particularly in the food and pharmaceuticalmarkets, consumers have shown strong resistance to the often substantial costs associatedwith maintaining trademarks (through promotions, advertising and so on). It can bemisleading to compare the reported gross profit margin of a generic product with that of aTrademark product, since costs associated with maintaining the trademark are generallyexcluded in computing the gross profit and resulting margins. The gross profit margins oftrademark products would necessarily have to be substantially higher than those for genericproducts to cover these costs; therefore, it is only by deducting them from the gross profits oftrademark products that a realistic, comparable differential can be derived. The adjustedgross profit margin differential, when capitalized using appropriate multiples, would likelyapproximate the trademark’s value. The multiples in such situations would obviously belower than normal earnings multiples and would reflect the pre-tax nature of the differentialand

Why register A Trademark?

Prudent business people register their Trademarks with Patent Offices to gain an officialrecord of their rights to a particular mark. A Trademark registration also grants a statutoryright, subject to certain conditions, to prevent others from using the trademark without theregistered owner's permission - i.e. to prevent infringement.

One of the principal aims of a business is to build up the reputation of its goods or servicesand by applying for and gaining a Registered Trademark accelerates the process as itserves notice on would-be copiers of the serious intent of a business to defend its position inthe marketplace.




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If a Trademark is properly promoted and protected it can be a very valuable asset for anybusiness and can in some circumstances be worth more than the bricks and mortar of abusiness.

Generally, Registered Trademarks are protected for specific classes of products andservices for periods of 10 years, which are renewal indefinitely.

Business, Trade or Company names are names under which a trading entity conducts itsbusiness. They are usually used for governmental, company registration, taxation andfinancial reporting purposes. Invariably a company or business name will not contain a logoor other identifier.

Probably only about half of all company names are eligible for trademark Registration. Infact, many company names are confusingly similar or so descriptive that they cannot betrademarked. In other words they do not have the necessary “distinctiveness” to be used inthe marketplace to distinguish one proprietors good or services from another.

A Company Name can be registered as a Trademark, but only if it is used as such, that is,used to identify wares or services

To be registrable a trade mark must be:

distinctive for the goods/services for which registration is sought, and

not deceptive, or contrary to law or morality, and

not identical or similar to any earlier marks for the same or similar goods/services.

It is important when starting a business to consider not only what the business is to be calledand what name is to be used to attract customers but also whether or not the name willinfringe another businesses Trademark.

PIPERS highly recommends that before taking this important step to conduct a thoroughsearch of relevant Trademark Registers, Company name Registers, Business Registries, theTelephone Yellow pages (or similar) and domain name registries to ensure that you are freeto use that name in trade.

Please also be aware that simply because have a company name or a domain name doesnot automatically mean that the name will be accepted as a Trademark.

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Function of Public Relation