He tells the Business Hour that a trademark is a business’ badge of origin and it essentially distinguishes your goods and/or services from those of your competitors. “It’s that name that you’re putting out in the market to draw consumers to the product that you’re selling or service that you’re providing,” he stresses.

Du Toit explains that business owners/founders can formally apply to register their trademark through the Companies and Intellectual Commission (CIPC). The CIPC administers the trademark process. It is here that entrepreneurs can formally apply for protection and register the “statutory right”.

He says some of the biggest mistakes that business owners make, is that they don’t keep the registered form of protection, they don’t do trademark clearance searches before registering a trademark and many do not seek specialist legal counsel, often choosing to do things themselves instead.

This as Intellectual Pexpert at ENSAfrica, Waldo Steyn, advised business owners to better educate themselves regarding intellectual property laws and understand how these “assets” can be owned and monetised. Steyn went on to say there is a great deal of uniformity when it comes to intellectual property laws across different countries. He attributes this to international intellectual treaties like the Berne Convention for the Protection of literary and artistic works which forces member states and/or signatories of the treaty to implement similar legislation at a local/national level, resulting in this uniformity.

Steyn emphasises the importance of entrepreneurs and business owners, in general, being aware of how these intellectual property rights can be monetised and lead to bigger commercial opportunities.

 Du Toit stresses, that entrepreneurs must seek legal counsel.