There are lots of great ideas out there and every successful business starts off as just an idea. One of the most important steps in building a profitable venture is protecting your brand. Your brand may be something as simple as a name, it could be your logo, or even your design scheme or marketing campaign. It’s worth your time and money to safeguard your brand from the very beginning.

The most comprehensive brand protection is a federally registered trademark. You can register your name, logo, tagline or other branding even before using it in the marketplace by filing an “intent to use” application. If your branding is already in use, trademark it right away! Someone else may beat you to it and then you will have lost the right to use your brand – you’ll have to change your name and possibly cease operations entirely. Not worth it!

A little forethought goes a long way. Feel free to contact us about a free consultation on how to protect your valuable intellectual property.

Registering or merely using your trademark in commerce is not enough to obtain the full protection of the trademark laws throughout the US. Do you know that you have the affirmative obligation to enforce your trademark rights, and if you don’t, they could be lost?

You as the owner of a trademark (even if not federally registered) have the power to stop others from using this exact mark or anything else that is confusingly similar. But, how do we determine what a “confusingly similar mark” is in the marketplace? The courts typically look at three factors in their examination:

1. Will the consuming public be confused if two or more companies are using the same or similar trademarks at the same time?

2. Are the products with the same or similar trademarks being sold in the same manner, in the same parts of the country, through the same retailers or other distribution channels?

3. Is your trademark or one that is confusingly similar, being used on competing products or services such that the sale of one will likely stop the purchase of the other?

If your trademark is being infringed by a “confusingly similar” mark, and you can prove a financial loss, or that the person using the other mark has some financial gain as the result of his wrongful use, you may be entitled to damages based upon his profits or your losses.

If the court finds that the infringer has intentionally copied your trademark, you may be entitled to your attorney’s fees, and punitive damages. Punitive damages are compensation paid to you by the infringer over and above your actual damages, and represent the court’s punishment of the intentional copier for his malicious or willful misconduct.

In order to develop and keep your trademark strong, you must continually survey the marketplace for competing marks that may cause confusion and therefore result in a lowering of the value of your mark. This is something that you should schedule periodically, or we have the capability to monitor and police your trademark to keep it strong and valuable. Ask us how.