Best Practice for SaaS Startup Trademark Protection

SaaS is the abbreviation for ‘Software as a Service.’ Software as a Service is a new technology recommended for every start-up company to have up and running. It is considered to be essential for a business now. It is a cloud-based service that can be accessed easily from any internet browser and does not need users to install special software for this. Doing the latter can sometimes be a hassle, hence, discouraging people from using this technology. Fortunately enough, SaaS understands that issue.

Due to the pandemic, almost all businesses have learned to adapt to online methods of working. Zoom, Slack, and Shopify have been front in the line of making use of newer technology. Therefore, they have encouraged other organizations to join them in the race as well.

For any business owner, a registered trademark is also one of the valuable assets they own. Consequently, SaaS business owners recognize a registered trademark as a valuable asset for themselves as well. However, the globalized nature of SaaS businesses makes the task of getting a trademark registered rather challenging. Nevertheless, there are some best practices for SaaS start-ups for trademark protection that they must embrace immediately.

These practices are as follows:

1.   Choose the perfect trademark

Choosing the perfect trademark requires a lot of creativity and hard work since your trademark has to be strong. However, it is worth the effort because your trademark needs to have a long-lasting effect on your customers. To ensure that such an effect is created, you must see that your trademark is not generic, too simple, and does not contain over-used elements. Moreover, trademarks containing too much description, bias towards something are random or subjective and are also not the best trademarks out in the market. Therefore, it is recommended to put a lot of thought into the trademark to give the audience a general gist of the brand and is also attention-grabbing.

2.   Do thorough research before picking a trademark

For picking a SaaS trademark, you must do a thorough and deep search of all the trademarks and brand names that already exist. The whole point of SaaS start-up trademark protection is to have a trademark that no one else has and that no one else can have. Hence, it is best to research the already existing trademarks in the market to know which trademark catches attention, which already exists, what is being overused, what might help you be different, etc. There are many things you can learn from your research that will help you develop the best trademark for yourself. Hence, the best practice you can adopt for SaaS trademark protection is to do your research before getting invested in the whole process of picking and choosing.

3.   Research on trademark registration in key trademark classes

Once you are done researching the trademark itself to avoid any copying, your next step is to do thorough research on key trademark classes and how you can register your trademark in those. After getting done with that, your tech company's trademark protection can be ensured by applying for registration in the right trademark class. These classes are typically as follows:

• Class 9 – for protecting your software and apps
• Class 38 – for protecting marketplace and portals
• Class 42 – for protecting your core SaaS services

4.   Apply in key trademark classes

The point of doing extra research on key trademark classes was to know where your subscription company lies. SaaS brand registration in specific key trademark classes will provide added benefits and protection to the start-up company. Hence, once you are done studying and searching for key classes, apply for trademark registration in those specific classes as soon as possible.

Taking up this practice for your SaaS trademark protection will also guide you towards where your customers are mainly located. Moreover, it also keeps you updated on where you get most website traffic from. These two can be good guides towards a better future for your SaaS trademark.

Here is some added information for SaaS start-ups in the European Union – you are eligible to apply for trademark protection for all the countries in the European Union with just one single application. This, therefore, makes the process very fast and convenient. The accessible nature provided by the European Union for SaaS start-up trademark protection is one way to encourage all SaaS start-ups to seek their protection immediately to not take any chances.

5.   Keep an eye out on your registered trademark

You would be surprised to know that unauthorized persons can also misuse the registered trademark of your SaaS start-up. However, such events only occur when your registered trademark has been unused for a while. Your trademark registration is lifelong and only expires when nobody uses it; therefore, you must be very vigilant of the usage; otherwise, your trademark will expire. Another way to ensure that expiration does not occur is to always see that renewal deadlines are met.

If you are adopting such practices, then you might be safe from unauthorized users using your trademark. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, it is always best to keep an eye out and monitor your registered trademark to make sure that nobody else besides you are using it.

6.   Secure all social media accounts and website domain names

One of the best practices for SaaS start-up trademark protection is to certify that all social media accounts are secured even before getting the brand name trademarked. In addition to social media accounts, website domains must also be secured. Many start-up owners often dismiss adequate security on such platforms; however, it is one of the many essential practices that everyone must adopt.

The above-mentioned are best practices for SaaS start-up trademark protection. The growing technology and readily available knowledge on such matters have resulted in a lot of fraud and theft in business. Henceforth, proper measures should be taken to avoid such circumstances.

Protect your brand today!

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