Trademark Watch – Why monitor your trademark?

Why should I monitor trademarks?

The number of trademarks is growing every year on the current market and today it is important not only to come up with a unique name/logo but also to make sure that you are alone about it. Once you have succeeded in getting your unique name/logo registered as a trademark, you may think that your work is done here – but I can assure you that only half of the work is done at this stage. To get your trademark registered is one thing but preventing others from trying to register an identical or similar trademark is another. A registered trademark does not per se prevent others from using or apply for identical or similar trademarks. It is you as the trademark owner who has to ensure that no other company enters the market with a similar mark. One of the prominent trademark offices, EUIPO, does not examine trademark applications by checking current similar trademarks. Therefore, it is important to monitor which trademarks are filed for registration. If you do monitor your trademark, you may detect potential infringers or similar trademarks in time to oppose within the opposition period which runs for a few months after the application date.

What if I don’t monitor trademarks?

If you only register your trademark and don’t monitor trademarks someone might start using similar or even identical trademark to yours and build goodwill around it in connection to their business. If you, at this point, would like to begin a legal process against the use and registration it will be a difficult and expensive process with no guarantee to succeed. In worst case, you might have to live alongside this trademark on the market which might be damage to your trademark value.

How do I monitor trademarks?

We offer trademark monitoring worldwide, and report to you when any similar trademark to yours is filed for registration. By using our trademark watch service, you may only receive the relevant results from us which we evaluate to be important to act upon.

What do I do when a similar trademark to mine is discovered?

Contact us, or we contact you due to our discovery in the trademark watch service. We do the assessment whether the similar trademark causes confusion similarity with yours or not. When discovering confusion similarity, we file an opposition through the trademark authority in order to stop the registration. An opposition might end up in an amicable solution between the parties, such as a co-existence agreement, in accordance to which your interests are satisfied in order to prevent confusion similarity, or with filing argumentations through the trademark authority in a formal legal process to let the judge decide.