This is an interesting question and a very good one. It is necessary to officially trademark the logo for your small business or start-up? We all know that your business mark or logo is what makes your brand or business recognizable, so it is imperative to have a unique, stylish, high-quality logo if you want to be taken seriously in today's market. However, it is necessary to trademark it with a government registry, or with a database. Well, the simple answer is no, the truth is that registering trademarks is pushed on many small business owners as a necessity, the fear is perpetuated that if you don't have your logo registered someone can steal it, however, the likelihood of that is slim, and even if they did, you are already legally covered.
The Copyright Act ©
According to the copyright act and the faq's page of copyright.gov, "your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." This means that the minute that you finish creating anything, a song, a book, a logo, it is under copyright protection. This law also covers trademarks, even though they are two different forms of work registration. In other words, once you have created the logo for your business it is automatically protected. This is why my answer to it being necessary is no because it is already protected. The purpose of trademark registration is to prove that you are the one that created the work by having a governmental record that supports that claim. It has been said that it is the easiest way to prove ownership of a logo or work, however, that is not necessarily true either. There are other ways to show and prove that you were the first to create and use a mark.
Your mark's protection
A marks protection is all about proving that you're the one that created it and that it is actually your intellectual property. That is all copyrights and trademarks are proof of creation and ownership of intellectual property. However, there are other ways to prove that without registering your mark with a government entity. There was a time when you could send something that you created, like a copy of a song or written work in the mail to yourself to get a timestamp from the post office to prove the date that a work was created on or before. Now we have a much simpler way to prove the date of the creation of a work, and it is social media. Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram always timestamp all posts, and because you cannot control the timestamp only Facebook or Instagram does it can be used as proof of the date created on or before, without the possibility of manipulation.
If it was posted within the year it will not display the year, however, if posted in years past the year date will be visible as well. This is great proof in the event that you need to prove that you were the first to create and use a mark. Another important thing to understand is that usage is also important. How often you use your mark and its association with your company is also another way to prove ownership. For instance, once the mark pictured in this article was posted on Facebook, it was also set as the profile picture for VM.Co. Now every time something is posted on Facebook this mark will be posted with that post. Every time an ad is created for VM.Co this mark is also added on the ad which also counts as more usage. So if anyone wanted to try to claim this mark legally they would not only have to prove that they created their mark on a date before May 20th but that they have also used it extensively and have already created a brand association with it for customers. These forms of proof will stand in any court of law as long as you have enough timestamped evidence to back it up.
The answer
So ultimately the answer to the aforementioned question remains no, trademarking a logo is not necessary, but it is advisable. Yet, I only advise on the basis of growth, while your business is small or just starting out it is not necessary, and because of the cost, which can be quite high, it is something that you can wait on. However, make sure that when you are creating your logo that you do your research. Do not fashion your logo close to any other logo that already exists in your jurisdiction. If your company name is similar to another company in your jurisdiction consider using an initialism in the logo, not the companies full name. An example of an initialism is how Kentucky Friend Chicken's logo is KFC. Once your company grows and begins to reach nationwide recognition I do advise trademarking your logo with a government entity or a database. Just be sure to remember that when you create your logo that you post it to your business' social media page immediately and begin to use it often. This will help in the sometimes tedious and long trademarking process; once your company is ready for it.
Until next time...
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