Having your community’s name associated with a certain quality of lifestyle goes a long way towards promoting your real property values and keeping you competitive in the real estate marketplace. Trademarking your community’s name (and logo) can also serve two important functions: (a) you can prevent bad actors from using your community’s name and/or logo to create confusion or mischief online and in print and (b) you can license your community’s trademark to valued local businesses and entities as a means to supplement your association’s revenues.
Your community’s brand and how you are perceived in the marketplace is essential. Many developers rely upon name recognition and a stylish logo to attract attention from potential buyers – spending considerable effort and money to build a certain mystique around the community’s name and look. But, they often overlook the critical need to protect that name and logo by registering a trademark. There is no reason, however, that your board cannot take this crucial step. Registering your community’s name and logo as trademarks in Florida protects you against local businesses and neighboring communities trading on your good name. Owning your name and logo also allows the board to prevent anyone intent on setting up a shadow website or other online presence as a way to harass or harm the association.
If your community association has taken the time to thoughtfully create a memorable brand, it only makes sense to protect that investment. If you’ve never thought about the need to brand and protect your community’s name, perhaps now is the time to consider doing so. Our team will guide you through the process of registering your association’s name and logo, and can also design a logo for you in the event your association doesn’t already have one.