BACKGROUND OF BRAND
The word brand comes from the Old Norse brandr, meaning ‘to burn’, and it was by this means that early man stamped ownership on his livestock. With the development of trade, buyers would use brands as a means of distinguishing between the cattle of one farmer and another, and brands quickly became associated with quality and reliability. Thus brands provided buyers with a guide to choice, a role that has remained unchanged to the present day. Some of the earliest manufactured goods in mass production were clay pots, the remains of which can be found in great abundance around the Mediterranean region. There is considerable evidence among them of the use of brands, which in their earliest form were the potter’s mark, but these gradually became more sophisticated through the use of the maker’s name or devices such as a cross or star. Under the civilizing influence of the Romans, and with the growth of towns and cities, shopkeepers – including apothecaries, the earliest dealers in medicines – would use signs to advertise their trade. In Rome, principles of commercial law developed which acknowledged the origin and title of potters’ marks but this did not deter makers of inferior quality pots from imitating the marks of well-known manufacturers in order to dupe the public. Examples of fake Roman pottery, manufactured by crafty Belgian potters and exported to Britain for sale to the gullible natives, can be found today in the British Museum.