Be On the Lookout!: Monitoring Your Trademark After Registration
Be on the Lookout!
Monitoring Your Trademark After Registration
You know what’s just as important as having a valid trademark?? Monitoring it! Nope, the fight isn’t over. In fact, it’s never over. If you do not monitor your trademark AFTER successful registration, you are STILL at risk of losing out. Like I said before… your brand is your baby. You’re probably tired of hearing that, but it is! And it needs constant protection… just like a baby.
I like to think of trademark protection in terms of layers… You obtain initial protection by first use of the mark. Then, registration of your mark reinforces your trademark protection claims and ensures your exclusive rights. However, you still need to go a step further in order to retain your protection since having a registered mark does not ward off all infringers.
Monitoring your mark will help you to stay aware of the efforts of your competitors. And if those efforts could infringe on your rights, you will have the opportunity to take action, whether through a cease and desist letter or cancellation or opposition proceeding with the USPTO. The earlier trademark infringement is detected, the easier it is to enforce your rights and protect your mark from possible dilution.
Not monitoring your mark may cause you to lose your trademark rights. If someone else is using a similar mark for similar goods and services, and you do not take any action, then your mark could potentially lose its value as it would no longer be a source identifier for your goods and services. Additionally, you could lose money due to customer confusion.
New Millennia Legal Resources offers one full year of trademark monitoring with our comprehensive trademark package. We will provide a weekly report that details who has submitted a registration application to the USPTO that could be “confusingly similar” to yours. We also provide a cease and desist notice template to our members.
This weekly service, worth hundreds of dollars, is absolutely free to our members for as long as they maintain their membership.
To learn more about out package, click here!
Eloise Kaiser joined New Millennia Legal Resources mid-year 2019 as the Senior Client Liaison. She is a New Orleans native and graduate of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. As a natural creative in her own right, she holds a special interest in business and intellectual property law.