Trademark monitoring is important when it comes to protecting the value of a brand. It does not matter if you have protected a slogan, a brand, a color, the shape of a product or even a scent, we must verify it and be aware of the events that happen around us. All we can say is that trademark owners have a duty to keep an eye on their brand throughout the year and 24 hours a day so that they can protect their brand from any kind of unexpected event.
For businesses, corporations, and companies, the value of unpoliced trademarks is always in jeopardy and can result in the complete loss of all trademark rights.
No matter if you are a brand monitoring service provider or a brand owner, there are three important homework we do when considering a brand watch and they are as follows:
- Surveillance of unauthorized use of a trademark
- Policing Confusingly Similar Trademark Uses
- Monitoring of Trademark Uses by Approved Trademark Licenses
So how should companies effectively track brands? Here are some steps:
Determine Territory: Trademark rights are territorial and are generally granted from one country to another, therefore the first step is to know the territory to carry out brand monitoring, that is, which territory is going to be monitored for a particular brand. This will depend on where your own rights are valid now and what your expansion plans are. Trademarks and Trade Names that we register federally are effective nationwide, while unregistered common law rights are effective in the geographic area of origin. Trademark rights are also granted on a country-by-country basis, so rights in the United States have no effect outside of the United States.
Develop a proactive system to learn from misuse: The second step in an overall trademark monitoring process will be to develop a proactive system for learning from misuse. Trademark issues are often easier to resolve the sooner they arise, so staying on top of events regularly is key to success in this domain. Some of the important action plans that brand monitoring service providers can carry out are:
- Search the USPTO’s online database of federal trademark applications and registrations
- Search the web periodically for misuse
- Setting up a Google alert for your trademark
- Follow up on customer complaints.
- Get help from a professional trademark monitoring service provider
- Configuring various third-party online trademark theft reporting processes
Evaluate the substance: The third step in this process is knowing the substance of the misuse. Once we verify the misuse, we can proceed with the necessary steps to move forward. Is this the only step where we get to know if the third party used goods and/or services like ours? Will the territory (geographical location) used be an issue and/or the use has no legal interest because it is permitted fair use?
Decide actions: There are many actions that we generally take after proving misuse. For example, sending a cease and desist letter to the infringer could be the first step in case one of the parties infringes your right. If there is a pending federal application, you can object to the application at the USPTO. For uses on the web, the domain name registrar may attempt to remove inappropriate or infringing content even if the owner or user refuses to do so. Misuse of a trademark in a domain name can often be resolved through simplified UDRP procedures.
Assert your rights:
This is the last and final step in the overall trademark monitoring process where the plaintiff files a lawsuit to enforce the rights.
Resume: In short, we can say that brand monitoring is an ongoing and ongoing process and companies need to do it throughout the year to prevent their brand from being misused.
