What rights are conferred by a registered trademark?

The owner of a registered trademark may commence legal proceedings for trademark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that trademark. However, in some countries unregistered rights in a sign may also be enforced. These are often known as 'common law' rights. An unregistered sign is usually only protected within the geographical area within which it has been used or in geographical areas into which it may be reasonably expected to expand.

Unauthorized use of a trademark is amongst others the use, without consent, of the same or a similar trademark for identical or similar products and/or services as those for which the trademark is protected and there exists a likelihood of confusion amongst the consumers as regards the origin of the products and/or services.