Trademarking
your sound
Talk to our experts
You protect your logo, your name, your products. Your audio identity deserves the same protection. Trademarking your sound ensures that competitors cannot imitate or steal the sonic assets you’ve invested in building.
An audio identity without trademark protection is an asset without legal ground.
Why trademark
your audio identity?
A trademark is the link between a company and its customer base. Just as visual trademarks protect your logo and name, an audio trademark gives you documented, exclusive rights to your sonic identity — preventing competitors from using similar sounds to profit from your brand equity.
Without protection, a competitor could adopt sounds similar to yours, confusing consumers and eroding the recognition you’ve worked to build. The brands that understand this — Intel, NBC, MGM, MobilePay — have turned their sounds into legally protected assets.
What can be
trademarked?
Not every sound qualifies. Audio trademark registration requires that the sound is distinctive — meaning it can distinguish your brand from others. Here’s what shapes that determination:
The sound must have a “characteristic function” — it must distinguish your goods or services from another company’s. Sounds that consumers perceive as purely functional (like a can opening, a door closing, or a standard app notification) generally cannot be trademarked. The sound must rise above being perceived as just a sound and become synonymous with your brand.
If a sound isn’t inherently distinctive, it can still qualify if it has been used consistently and extensively enough that consumers associate it with your brand. This is called acquired distinctiveness or incorporation. MobilePay’s sound followed this path — after extensive documented use, the Danish Patent and Trademark Office accepted that consumers associated the sound with the brand.
Sounds that are purely functional — those that naturally result from using a product — are extremely difficult to trademark. They must not be misleading, applied in bad faith, or violate public order. Sounds that are too generic or common within a product category will also typically fail to qualify without evidence of acquired distinctiveness.
How we help
We design audio identities with trademarkability in mind. That means creating sounds that are distinctive from the outset — sufficiently unique within your product category to stand apart from industry norms and competitors.
Our trademarking service includes guidance on the registration process across relevant territories, documentation of sonic assets in the required formats (audio file or notation), and strategic advice on building consistent usage that supports acquired distinctiveness over time.
We work alongside trademark attorneys where needed — combining our sonic branding expertise with the legal expertise required to complete the process correctly.
MobilePay:
acquired distinctiveness
When MobilePay first applied to trademark their notification sound, the Danish Patent and Trademark Office rejected it. Consumers were not used to perceiving sounds in apps as trademarks, and the sound was not considered distinctive enough on its own.
By documenting extensive, consistent use over time, MobilePay built a case for acquired distinctiveness — the principle that even an ordinary sound qualifies for protection once it’s been used enough to become synonymous with a brand. The DKPTO accepted the trademark. The lesson: consistency is not just a branding principle — it is the legal foundation for trademark protection.
BVG Berlin:
a landmark EU ruling
In 2023, BVG — Berlin’s public transport operator — applied to trademark a two-second, four-tone jingle used before station announcements. The EUIPO rejected it twice, describing the melody as “so short and banal” it couldn’t function as a brand identifier. BVG appealed to the EU General Court.
In September 2025, the Court ruled in BVG’s favour. It found the jingle original, non-functional, and inherently capable of indicating origin — confirming that brevity alone is not grounds for refusal. In sectors where sonic branding is established, even a short fresh jingle can qualify without years of use behind it. A landmark moment for audio trademark law in the EU.
