When an organization reaches a certain age (much like a person), it is only natural that one starts to think about one’s history, as well as one’s future. As our own law firm now enters its 50th year we have had cause to reflect on both our own origin story, the history of our trademark, as well as the history of trademarks as a concept.
One aspect of trademark law that has always fascinated me is that a trademark can potentially live in perpetuity (as long as it is renewed every decade). This unique and enduring aspect of a trademark right also means that a mark or a sign can be a crucial and long-lasting part of a company’s identity. This is of course a key aspect in brand-building and in keeping a trademark relevant throughout the years, and in promoting brand loyalty for consumers as well as for employees. After all, over time a trademark and a brand can be filled with different values, a promise of quality, emotions, and perhaps equally as important, a sense of history.
Having an avid interest in both history and trademark law, it felt only right that I should write something both on the origins of trademarks, as well as the origin of our trademark, while also examining how a trademark’s history can be a living part of a company’s brand identity.
Without going too deep into the history of trademarks as a concept, we can say for certain that mankind has been using signs and symbols to denote the authorship and ownership of goods and services for millennia. There are historical experts who believe that certain cave paintings show cattle being branded with specific marks, which would put the earliest trademark use at around 15 000 years ago. Other examples throughout the history of mankind include unique marks distinguishing Egyptian stonecutting some 6 000 years ago, ancient Greek and Roman wine jugs and pottery at around 3 000 years ago, or the Viking swords “Ulfberht” at around 1 000 years ago. Throughout the ages, craftsmen and businesses have always wanted to ensure quality, to show ownership and to promote advertising of their products by using specific marks. While the legal side of trademarks may have gotten a lot more complex in modern times than they were back in the olden days, the core of a trademark remains the same. It’s about providing an answer to a customer saying “This is good. Where does it come from, and who can I talk to about getting another one?”.
For our own firm, the trademark journey started when the law firm Advokatbyrån Ström & Gulliksson was founded in 1975, as the only combined law and patent firm in Sweden. The law firm later became a separate company in 2001 – Advokatbyrån Gulliksson – and Ström & Gulliksson became a pure patent firm. However, the unique co-operation between the companies has continued ever since those first days back in the 70’s, and while the trademark split into two, both firms have never forgotten the shared origin of the original trademark. It is safe to say that our unique history and special background form the basis of who we are today.
This is of course only one example among thousands on how a trademark can change and evolve over time, but it stands to reason that every company who endures a couple of decades has cause to think about its trademarks in historical sense. Just as those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, the same principle can be applied to how you chose to use your trademark in a commercial sense. I would argue that a part of the primary function of a trademark, i.e. being a badge of origin, should not only be seen as linking a trademark to a specific commercial origin, but also as a way of linking your business to its historical origin.
It would be easy to think of a trademark as something static or set in stone, something that we register and then forget about. But that would be doing a disservice to the function of a trademark, which could be seen as a carrier of an accumulated goodwill, reputation and which signals the mission and vision of a company. Since all those aspects are ever changing, I would argue that trademark should ideally also be seen as something ever evolving, while still retaining a sense of what has been.
As your business evolves and changes with the needs and trends on the various markets and its customers, so should your trademarks. We may not always think about it, but it usually comes natural for a trademark to evolve as time goes by. Logotypes and other figurative marks are updated as the visual identity of the company changes, slogans or taglines may be incorporated or fall out of use, and sometimes a particular trademark is replaced by a completely new one. However, this does not mean that the history of the trademark has to be completely forgotten. Even if a trademark sometimes has to change for various reasons, the meaning and substance of the old trademark does not have to be entirely lost, but can sometime live on through a newly created trademark. By keeping the same color, iconography, fonts or other aspects of the old mark, the sense of history might endure.
The other side of a trademark, namely the goods and services for which the mark is registered, may also benefit from being looked at through the lens of history. When the goods and services that your company offers evolve or expand over the course of several years, it may be prudent to think about adding new items to the list of goods and services of your trademark rights. This can be done either by filing new complementary trademark applications, or by refiling the trademark rights with extended list of goods and services. We see time and time again how companies, whose trademarks are not updated, face different obstacles. This includes being unable to show genuine use of their trademark in its current form, having obsolete list of goods and services, or being unable to act against third party infringers due to not having updated their trademark portfolio. It is therefore important to always look to the future in regard to your trademark portfolio, while also remembering where you come from.
Thinking about our own trademark and the journey we have been on for the past 50 years, we can see that not only has our company evolved, splitting into a patent firm and a law firm, but so too has our trademark. As can be seen below, while the visual identity of our brand has undoubtedly changed over the years, there is nevertheless a sense of continuity in the look of our trademark starting from when the law firm split off in 2001. On the other hand, the services offered to our clients has always remained the same, as has what the trademark has always stood for, including competence, commitment and cooperation.
As I hope to have demonstrated in this article, a company’s trademark should not only be seen as a badge of origin but also as a badge of history. As a carrier of everything that a company stands for and the history that lead up to where we are today, a trademark can be a banner to rally behind in both good times and bad. To paraphrase what a great man once said: ”History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, so that we can better face the future.”.
At Advokatbyrån Gulliksson, we believe that our unique past is a big part of our success, and we look forward to facing the future while letting our badge of history guide us to new heights.
Gulliksson celebrates its 50th anniversary
Take part in glimpses and highlights from our journey from the start in 1975 to today!
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Advokat, Specialist Counsel
073 510 28 80
