What is the difference between a trademark and a wordmark?

We have established that a wordmark is a logo, but not every logo is a wordmark.

A wordmark or logotype is usually a distinct text-only typographic treatment of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding.

A trademark on the other hand can be a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others.

 Trademark registration services in Vietnam  

The number one difference between logos and wordmarks is that wordmarks are text-based logos. These types of logos are completely devoid of extra pictures, meaning that logos such as Pepsi and MasterCard are not wordmarks, since these logos contain images as well. You can probably think of several examples of wordmarks off the top of your head, but some of the most famous are FedEx, Coca-Cola and even world-famous Google. These are all examples of highly successful and easily recognizable wordmarks that are easily identified with around the world.

Why would someone use wordmarks over something like a pictorial graphic?

It ties into the fact that they are a more direct type of branding. When you provide just a picture, such as Joomla's logo, you have to have faith that a person can learn the association between a picture and a name and service, keeping them separate from other pictorial logos. Imagine if all of our favorite brands and companies were only identified by a simple graphic. We would have hundreds or even thousands of these little pictures to remember. Trying to keep them straight would become very confusing!

When providing a wordmark, such as Google, you provide a name while still providing a recognizable image for the viewer. Wordmarks are becoming the standard when it comes to designing logos, as it has been observed by some studies that they are more effective than their pictorial counterparts are.

A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms “trademark” and “mark” are commonly used to refer to both trademarks and servicemarks.

Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark. Trademarks which are used in interstate or foreign commerce may be registered with the Patent and TrademarkOffice. The registration procedure for trademarks and general information concerning trademarks is described in a separate pamphlet entitled “Basic Facts about Trademarks”.