A trade name is a name under which you conduct your business. A trade name can act as a trademark if it is used to identify goods and services of that business.
Example: let us suppose that you sell headphones and your company is called “To The Moon Headphones Ltd.”
Scenario A: Customers come to you because they know your name “To The Moon Headphones Ltd.”. You use your company name as a trademark and you place it on your headphones or packaging. In this case trade name vs trademark, your company name is also your trademark.
Scenario A: Customers come to you because they like your headphones which you have called “Blue Rocket”. This is how you advertise and sell your headphones. Even though the name of your company is “To The Moon Headphones Ltd.”, nobody associates this name with your headphones. In this case, your company name is not a trademark, but your product name is a trademark.
To open in a new tab, click: Trade name vs. trademark
