Trade mark, trademark or trade-mark?

Trade mark, trademark or trade-mark – what is the correct way to spell it?  Have you ever noticed the difference and questioned your own spelling? Is it one word? Two words? Or something else? As far as we can see, the spelling of trade mark is completely down to which country you are from.  As a global IP firm, we see all spelling variations and admit it can cause confusion. To help, we thought it would be useful to clarify each spelling and the reasoning behind each:.

• Trade mark is typically the British spelling.
• Trademark is the spelling used in America and used by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
• Trade-mark is the spelling used in Canada.

Interestingly the spelling in Canada only gained its hyphen in 1993 when Bob Kelly, a veteran of the Department of Justice, decided to start using one, in an attempt to reduce the confusion caused by the two different spellings. However, this will not be the case for much longer as the Government is currently in the process of removing the hyphen from its laws and will move to the American spelling; even though they originally used the British spelling!

Find out how Murgitroyd can help you develop, protect and review your company’s trade marks – speak to one of Murgitroyd’s expert attorneys today..