Naming Your Perfume
What would you do if, just as you were about to launch a perfume, you discovered that someone else held rights to your name?
It happens. After the successful launch of Sean John's "Unforgivable" it was revealed that trademark registration for "Unforgivable" had been denied. It was too close to a name owned by another company. A special arrangement had to be made. This cost some money.
When Calvin Klein was about to launch "Obsession" it was discovered that the name was owned by someone else. Money was paid to acquire the name. It was an unexpected expense.
These are just two examples of companies with big plans being forced to negotiate rights to perfume names they wanted but were already owned by someone else.
Before you settle on a name for a new perfume it is wise to do at least some limited research to avoid selecting a name already in use by someone else.
Two Tests For A Perfume Name
A perfume name should meet two tests. The lawyers will insist that the name be "available," that is not owned by someone else. Marketers look for a name that will help sell the perfume. In naming your perfume you are confronted with both technical and creative challenges.
Is the name of your perfume that important?
A good name is always helpful. But a brilliantly original, blockbuster name is not so easy to develop. And, if your brand is established and you have a loyal following, obsessing over a name may not be worth your while, especially if it distracts you from presenting your new perfume to customers who are already eager to try it.
In this situation you might simply go with a name that is not in current use — as indicated by a simple Google search for a perfume with that name. You'll find that you have lots of possibilities with little chance of conflict with a trademark owner.
On the other hand, if you expect to sell your fragrance aggressively and perhaps advertise regionally or nationally, the name you give it becomes more important.
How do you find a really good name for your perfume?
Perfumer Constantin Weriguine lists five factors in selecting a name for a perfume.
- The name should not, by accident, be offensive anywhere in the world where the perfume will be sold.
- The name should be simple, short, and easy to pronounce, even by people who don't speak your language.
- The name must appeal to the class of customer for whom the perfume is intended.
- The name should suggest the personality of the perfume.
- The name and the perfume (scent) should go together.
If the name of your fragrance "fits" the advertising and the scent harmonizes with the name and advertising, you have an ideal marketing situation.
How to develop a good name for your perfume
When large companies develop a new fragrance, they start with pen and paper trying to describe what they want their new perfume to be and how they intend to promote it. You would do well to approach your perfume and the naming process in the same way.
Look for a story — a story that can be told in your advertising, a story that is repeated in the name of the perfume and suggested its scent.
Then a personal sampling your perfume will say, "Yes, that is the story!"
This is not easy to achieve. First comes the story, the fantasy that inspires the perfume — a picture, a place, a famous person, an event, an emotion — the more universal the better.
Most fragrances launched by large companies today do not have much of a story behind them. Often the only "story" is the celebrity who declares that it is his or her "signature" scent.
But, for a small company or independent perfumer, each fragrance you create and launch is too important to allow this carelessness. So the starting point in developing both your perfume and its name — and it's packaging, whether simple or complex — is a story, a tale in words or in pictures or both that your fragrance will illustrate.
Mind Maps
One technique for developing a story is the "mind map." In a sense it is a story one a single piece of paper and all you need is a piece of paper, a pen or pencil (or crayon) and your imagination.
The starting point is, as suggested above, a picture, a place, a person, an event, an emotion, a song.
At the center of your paper, write or draw the central theme — the heart of the story you will express through your perfume.
This may not be easy for your. It might not come right away. It might not come in a day or even a week. But if it doesn't come it should be a warning to you that you don't yet have a story to tell with your fragrance. If you decide to go ahead without developing a story you risk being stumped when, after naming and bottling your fragrance, you can only think of weak lines to sell it.
After developing your name and story you must now create a perfume that repeats the story through its scent.
Trademark protection for your name
It is important to understand that a trademark is a "mark" — an identifier — that is used on "goods in commerce" to show their origin.
A trademark comes into existence by use — by putting the mark on an item and placing that item into the "stream of commerce." In the case of a perfume, the NAME of the fragrance is it's mark and it becomes a legal trademark when the perfume is offered for sale. Registration is NOT required.
Creating a trademark is simplicity in itself. You make up a name, put it on your perfume, and go out and sell it. A problem arises only when someone else uses, or wants to use, the same or a similar mark for a similar "class of goods," in this case, goods associated with perfume. At this point to defend your mark legal action will be required. This can be costly and the outcome may depend on circumstances that were unknown to you when you first made use of your mark.
At this point too, with a lawyer, you will be told that had you REGISTERED your trademark, you would now be standing on firmer ground. In the United States a trademark can be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office. You do not need a lawyer to file a trademark application. Some states also register trademarks. These too can generally be filed without the assistance of a lawyer. But before making the decision to file for a trademark registration it is worth considering the value and the risks of the protection that might be gained.
Before filing an application to register a trademark it is important to do a "search" in an attempt to determine whether anyone else is using a similar or identical mark for an identical or similar "class of goods." And here the uncertainties begin.
There is no single search you can do, no single database you can query, that can guarantee that your name is clear. The Patent and Trademark Office offers a free, online, search service through its TESS (Trademark Electronic Search Service) that can help you uncover conflicts with federally registered marks but TESS will not uncover conflicts with state registered or common law trademarks — marks that have gained legal protection through "use" but have never been registered.
Professional trademark search services are generally used to uncover conflicting trademarks both within the TESS system and elsewhere. These services are generally linked to an attorney's service because information the search service produces is best interpreted by an attorney who is an expert in trademark law. You pay for these services and yet even if no conflict is discovered, there is no guarantee that your perfume name is not already being used by somebody else.
Filing for a federal trademark registration is a fairly straightforward procedure and you can do it yourself. Should your registration fail, you do not get your money back. This is the same whether you submit the registration yourself or whether an attorney handles the matter.
If all goes well your registration will be granted in about 12 to 18 months. Assuming all has gone well and you have received your registration, let's look at what rights you have gained.
The first "right" you have gained is the right to renew your trademark which requires periodic additional filings with the Patent and Trademark Office (TPO). You receive no reminders of the required filing dates. If you miss a date, you lose your trademark registration. However, you do not lose your common law rights to your name.
The second "right" you have is the right to defend your trademark against others who might try to use the same or a similar mark. This will require that YOU spot the offender and take legal action. Victory is not necessarily yours even if you have received a registration. Your adversary can petition the TPO to CANCEL your registration. Depending on your use of the mark, either you or your adversary might prevail. Either way the fight will cost you money and, even if you win, you are unlikely to get the money back.
On the positive side you can use your trademark to block entry into the United States of goods that infringe on your mark. The enforcement (and expense) will be up to you and your legal team. You do, as a trademark holder, have the right to sue for damages and legal costs when you uncover a situation in which your trademark has been infringed. Again, while you might be money ahead in the long run, the fight will require that money be laid out, either by yourself or an attorney working for you on a contingency agreement (no victory, no pay) but even here you might be asked to front certain filing fees.
If you take a practical approach to trademarks, you'll consider the value of the mark you wish to protect BEFORE you decide to apply for a registration. If you expect to make good sales with your perfume, a registration makes sense, particularly if your trademark attorney advises you that you have a "strong" registration, one that is unlikely to canceled if attacked.
If you have indeed created a unique trademark (name) for your fragrance and are successful in selling your fragrance, you will have a valuable property that may very well be worth registering. Once you are out there with your fragrance, if a large company suddenly gets a bug to use the same or a similar name for a perfume, they may be denied registration and, since they are looking for protection too, may wish to strike a deal with you to either buy your mark or negotiate (for money) the privilege of using the same or a similar mark.
In short, while you do gain common law rights simply by using a mark, and while you can submit a registration without a lawyer, if you feel that you have a serious trademark for a perfume that you will be backing with serious dollars, it makes sense to consult with a qualified trademark attorney before risking your money.
Strong Trademarks and Weak Trademarks
When selecting a name for your perfume you might have to strike some balance between a good name for your perfume and a name that can gain greater trademark protection.
Not all names gain the same level of protection. There is a "strength" hierarchy ranging from "fanciful" names (generally having the strongest protection) to "generic" names (generally having no protection). Quite likely you will strike a balance between a name that is unusual or unique or a word name that has been invented by you — and a name that will sell.
It can be useful to review the host of prescription medicines on the market and notice how, while their names are not words from the English language, for some the spelling and pronunciation can be suggestive of the cures they propose.
A Practical Strategy
As a minimum, to gain rights to the name of the perfume you have developed, you must produce the perfume and offer it for sale. By taking these two steps you gain what is known as common law trademark protection for your name.
Once you have created your perfume, offered it for sale, and thus established your right to the name, that name can be used for a totally different perfume and you still own your rights to the name.
This is important because it gives your name value beyond the first perfume you use it on. If people don't like your perfume or your bottle, you can change to another fragrance or another bottle and your name is still protected. Even more important, if a company or someone else approaches you and wants to pay you for the name you have created, they can buy your name from you without being locked into using your bottle and fragrance. In short, you can produce a few dozen bottles of a fragrance, offer them for sale on eBay, and by doing this establish at least a minimal legal right to the name you have developed. It's as simple as that.
The limits of a good name
A name by itself cannot sell perfume. It can only support a well planned marketing program. Before you develop a perfume, give some thought to how you are going to sell it.
References
- Perfume Intelligence
Browse through hundreds of names that have been used in the past. Great for giving you ideas. - Google
Do a web search for names you are considering. Search Google for "[your name] perfume" and see if any perfumes come up with the identical or a similar name. If nothing comes up, your name is likely — but not guaranteed — to be available for your use. - United States Patent and Trademark Office
Visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) online. Their site is the mother load of U.S. trademark information. Use their (free) TESS service to search for names you might want to use, to see if they have been taken already or whether they might be available.
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Homemade perfumes generally lack commercial value, regardless of how wonderful they may be, because their creators fail to record how their perfumes were made. To profit from a perfume, to sell it, to sell the rights to it, or have somebody sell it for you, you must be able to make more of it. To make more you need the formula, the record of how the perfume was made: what materials were used and how much of each material was used. While the formula is nothing more than a recipe, a simple piece of paper, it is the key to unlocking your perfume's commercial potential. With the formula in your hand you have the ability to make a few dozen bottles more or, like the celebrities, tens of thousands of bottles. How to create an international production formula for your homemade perfume is a guide to getting you started on the right foot, correctly documenting everything you do as you are doing it, and then using these notes with some basic mathematics to write a simple, accurate, universal formula for your perfume. Writing formulas for your perfumes can change the way you think about them. With your formulas in hand your creations are no longer "here today, gone tomorrow." Now, thanks to your library of formulas, your perfumes become immortal!
While much is written about perfume – the beautiful fragrances... the beautiful bottles – little is available on the "mechanics" of perfume production – the steps that take place on the "factory floor" where a beautiful vision is turned into a finished product, a "ready to sell" perfume. Now you can experience all of these steps, hands on, by making just one quart of your own perfume. If you follow each chapter and do what you are instructed to do, you will end up with from 8 to 64 bottles of your own perfume, depending on the capacity of the bottles you select. Along this "insiders journey," each step is profusely illustrated with professional color photographs and you'll learn — • Exactly what alcohol you'll need and where to get it • Why you'll want (just a little!) water in your perfume • What type bottles you'll need and why you cannot use others • Why you will use a spray and not a cap • How to fill and seal your bottles • How to label your bottles with the correct information so they will be legal for sale • How to select a name for your perfume that will allow you to acquire powerful trademark rights free. If you are a developer of scents you are encouraged to use one of your own for this project. If you are not a scent creator yourself you'll learn how to get a fragrance oil that is exactly right for this project. Online sources are given for all required supplies and materials. Nothing can hold you back from starting your project immediately!
Perfume is famous for the markup it can achieve, even for a middle market fragrance. While "everybody knows" that perfume costs next to nothing to make (not completely true) the making of it is often considered an esoteric secret. "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" details how a 3-person company with no experience created their own fragrance in response to a marketing opportunity that was too good to pass up. The book explains exactly what was done to create a fragrance for that opportunity but it is far more than a history of the author's project. "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" lays out every step in the process of creating your own perfume, either as a do-it-yourself project – and without the benefit of automated equipment some compromises and workarounds are required – or full bore professional production under your supervision. Either way you will be producing a quality fragrance at a remarkably low cost. Do you have a marketing opportunity that would be wildly profitable if only you could obtain your fragrance at a ridiculously low cost? "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" is the guide you need to do it.
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A really great name, a special name that is just right for a particular perfume or perfume marketer (or entrepreneur with money to invest!) can be worth a ton of money. But few individuals with great ideas ever manage to cash in on those brilliant ideas. Instead they wait while others "discover" their idea, acquire legal rights to it and make all the money while they are left out in the cold without a penny having been earned for what was once THEIR idea.
If you are struggling to name your perfume and are looking for a name that will have real value, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" will help you weed out low value names and point you to names that have better marketing value plus the potential to become valuable assets in themselves.
If you have a great name you want to protect but no fragrance, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" will guide you through the simple steps you must take to acquire a legal right to that name before someone else grabs it! Best of all, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" shows you how to gain strong legal protection for your name without a lawyer and without spending more than pocket change.
Never had an idea for a product name? Never thought much about perfume? "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" may stimulate your interest in a whole new game that, when played well, can make you lots of money without your having to leave the comfort of your home office.
When you name a perfume you create a valuable asset – the name itself. To sell your perfume you want the most effective name possible. But a good name can have value beyond the edge it gives your sales. In naming your fragrance you are creating a trademark and a trademark can have value independent of the product. The value of that trademark can vary. Much depends on how well, in naming your perfume, you follow the trademark "rules." How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume first helps you develop a name that will be effective in selling your perfume. It then prods you to make use of certain techniques that can turn a good name into a great trademark, strong and valuable. If you have questions about how to protect a name, How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume will answer many such as:
- Can you protect your name yourself or do you need a lawyer?
- Can you register a trademark without a lawyer?
- What does it cost to register a trademark?
- How do I enforce the rights I have established?
How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume covers both state, federal, and international protection.
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Philip Goutell
Lightyears, Inc.
