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How to Protect Your Trademark
A registered mark is a graphical representation of the company’s logo or name that distinguishes its products and/or services from others. Like most type of intellectual property, it can be protected by the national laws in Singapore where the trademark registration has been approved.
Having a brand name registry is different from having just an unregistered logo or name. Any business can create the latter, but other entrepreneurs can take advantage of the reputation and make a similar brand to confuse your customers.
Registration Process
The solution for avoiding infringement, if you accidentally copy a logo, and being taken advantage by copycats is to register trademark or to apply for exclusive rights to use your trade name. Since intellectual property is territorial in nature, it means that you should apply for copyright registration at the country or other territories outside Singapore where you wish to have your brand protected. There is a slight difference in the national and international registration process, but these are the basic trademark application steps:
1. First, create a TM that can be graphically represented and distinguishable from other existing trademarks. Submit this along with the name of the owner, complete address, list of goods and/services represented by the trademark, classification of the goods and/services included in the list, declaration of intent to use trademark, and payment for the application fee based on the class of goods and/or services.
2. IPOS, the bureau that will handle all cases involving IP, will examine the application. If there is a missing document or if the trademark cannot be registered, the applicant will be given time to amend or complete the application. If the owner needs to amend the application, the following are required: amendment form, amendment fee, and payment for service bureau charges. The trademark will be compared through a trade mark search to look for similar brands or logos.
3. Next, the trademark will then be published on the Trade Marks journal so that the public can scrutinize it. The public is given two months to file an opposition to the application. If there is a contesting party, a proceeding will be scheduled.
4. If there are no objections to the trademark application, the owner will then receive a registration certificate from IPOS. This registration grants the owner and the brand protection of the laws for the next 10 years. As for the business mark renewal process, you can still renew trademark in Singapore after expiration.
5. Once the trademark has been registered and approved in the country of origin, the owner can now apply for international registration through the Madrid Protocol. It will also undergo examination and publication in the designated countries before it can be granted protection.
Rights and Protection
The time, effort, and cost of filing a trademark are less than having to pay for damages or pursuing an infringement case against a copycat without having proof that you’re the original owner. Not to mention the delays and loss of sales that it will cost your business. Below is a list of rights that will help you understand further the benefits of trademark registration.
1. The owner has the exclusive right to use and profit from the trademark
2. Authorized parties may be able to enjoy exclusive rights and profits of the trademark if they have been assigned or licensed by the owner
3. Enjoy laws that protect your brand from copycats
4. The owner has the right to obtain relief if the trademark is copied
5. The burden of proof will no longer be on the owner during an infringement claim
6. Laws also protect instances of infringement of goods registered under the trademark
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Shifting to VoIP: Is Your Business Ready?
Not so long ago, Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) was something that only big establishments could consider. However, with greater demand for instant and more cost-efficient communication solutions, more and more small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are integrating this technology into their systems.
With VoIP’s growing popularity in the business industry of Singapore, there’s no wonder why most companies who haven’t integrated this technology yet are itching to get their hands on this exceptional tech advancement. If you’re a business owner who is looking into the possibility of shifting from conventional communication method to voice-over IP, it would be of great help to know whether your business is ready for this major shift.
1. How helpful is this to the productivity?
Find out the degree of productivity that your company would get with the introduction of voice-over IP, and evaluate whether the increase is worth the investment. Ask yourself whether it will improve the throughput of your help-desk team. Will your staff be able to entertain more phone calls? Will there be more return on calls and more sales? Weigh the answer to these questions and see whether the predicted productivity would compensate the upgrade.
2. Can the company afford it?
Shifting to a more unified communication system can be costly as it entails major overhaul of the company’s communication backbone. Therefore, the question here is: Can your business afford the upgrade? To find out, take time to make long-term cost estimation. If you don’t have enough funds for a onetime installation, you can still implement the plan one step at a time to evenly spread the cost and make it easier for your company to support the voice-over IP integration.
3. Is the network infrastructure ready?
The Local Area Network (LAN) is the network infrastructure inside the office. Find out whether you have all the laptops, PCs, and mobile devices connected to this network. Knowing the number of users is highly important because the more number of connections there are, the higher the bandwidth you’ll need. Take note that before getting a cloud VoIP phone system provider in Singapore you will need to upgrade the network infrastructure if you have plans of expanding or adding more employees. If there’s no plans yet of expansion, then it would be best to delay the upgrade until you’ve planned to increase network users.
4. Can the Internet speed support good quality calls?
Internet speed plays a major role in achieving good quality calls using the VoIP system. DSL connections are not very reliable and won’t be able to support too many users. However, if you have high upload connection, then you can use voice-over IP seamlessly. It’s imperative to secure a high-speed Internet connection not just for smooth communication lines, but for remote users to connect to the communications system as well. With better Internet speed, it makes communication lines more efficient and calls are smoother and clearer.
5. Are there remote users?
Remote users sometimes cause unforeseen problems with the internal network. As we’ve mentioned, if you have slow Internet connection, remote users might experience audio quality issues on calls made through the Internet. Increasing the Internet bandwidth or decreasing the bandwidth for each call can help fix the low-audio quality, though it’s typically easier to lessen the bandwidth than to increase it. This is done by replacing the default codec of remote users with a low bandwidth codec.
6. Does my office have the right power source?
When shifting to VoIP, you will need an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) to maintain a 24/7 communication line at the office. There are a number of UPS suppliers in the country that provide unique power back-up to businesses, big or small, at affordable prices. With a UPS, if you’re power supply fails, you will still be able to use some open lines to, at least, call for support.
Knowing whether your business is ready for VoIP Singapore is more important than injecting the new system to your existing infrastructure right away. Although efficient communication backbone is advantageous, there are instances that the readiness of the company outweighs the benefits of voice-over IP. Before pushing through with this upgrade, find out first how will your company be able to adjust with the new system.
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Starting Your Own Business Dress to Impress
Becoming a business owner is really difficult. However, it is one of the coolest experiences that you can have. Aside from being the coolest, having a business is also among the hardest challenge that a person can have. Yes, having a business is difficult and you need to sacrifice everything to be successful. Now, in the corporate world even if you have employees or not, you should:
Practice to Dress Formal Attire Every day
Most business offices today rent in buildings to reduce the expenses. This makes employees confident on what they wear. Sometimes, they tend to wear the most comfortable clothes that they want. This would create a negative image not just in co-workers but also for the company. For instance, your client makes a surprise visit and for sure, you haven’t prepared. Once they see you without dressing your proper or formal attire, there will be a tendency that they will not pursue business to your company because they might see that you cannot make things right.
Now, all you have to do is dress in formal and stop doing nothing in your office. In this way, you can increase you sales and will have a successful business. Also, it will add concentration to your work. Your attire has a big impact on your business as this is the main thing that clients see. Whatever happens, you need to dress to because this will be the first impression of your potential customers.
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Playing Computer Games at Work Could Lead to Business Failure
There are so many ups and downs in a business and there is a need to overcome challenges in order to keep the one’s business afloat. Many businessmen fail in the industry because there they find it hard to maintain its productivity. There are times that a business becomes boring. Therefore, you need to do something that would make the system work.
Computers and Modern Society
You need to cool down every day because there are tendencies that you will always experience failure. Since computer games were invented, it has been responsible for countless hours of entertainment – as well as hours of productivity loss. Since computers became integral to our society, more and more people have become hooked to them. This is particularly true among teenagers.
The Dangers of Computer Games
For teens, it is their way to be entertained as it is now the era of technology and traditional activities like playing outdoor games hardly played anymore. However, for parents they stand in their belief that computer games have nothing to do in a child’s life; it only ruins it and in fact, is posts a high risk to their health. When child becomes addicted to computer games, he might bring it to his adult age.
Barring Games in Your Business
In the period when a businessman is a computer game enthusiast and it is very hard for him to leave it, there is a big chance that a business will fail. So, what’s the best solution? Stop playing computer games. It only needs a big stop to obtain progress and prosperity in your business.
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Businesses That Contributed to the Economic Development of Singapore
Singapore is known to be the country that has a solid foundation in terms of financial matters. The country is one of the many countries in the world that is known to be abundant. Natural resources, modern facilities and lovely landmarks are only few of the things that the country can boast. However, none of these things will be popular without the help of many business owners that puts off effort just let help the country grow financially.
Businesses like C.K. Tang Limited Group, Boustead Singapore Limited, Amtek engineering LTD, British-American Tobacco Private Limited, Cerebos Pacific Limited and more are some of the businesses that helped to the country’s economic development. Apart from these establishments, there are also big companies that contributed to Singapore’s financial journey such as:
- City Developments Limited: This is founded in 1963 which is the largest land holder in Singapore. It leads the way in property development, club ownership and operation, hotel operation and ownership and property rentals.
- Auric Pacific Group Limited: Cosmetic products, wines, property and security investment, food courts and more, this is what Auric Pacific (investment holder) provide. Despite the fact, that it is only a Singapore-based company, it has an outstanding presence throughout Asia which includes Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Thailand.
- Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited: The leading automotive company in Singapore that distributes, manufacture and assemble different parts for cars like Kia, Citreon, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz and other motor vehicles. Also it is involved in retail, financial services, infrastructure, agribusiness and heavy equipment.
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