After successfully registering a trademark with the USPTO, trademark monitoring is the next most important step. Enforcement of your trademark rights is your responsibility, and that is possible when you monitor your trademark closely. In order to stop someone from infringing your trademark, you must be aware of the infringement in the first place. This is why you must have a system in place for trademark monitoring. You would naturally want to ensure that no other brand uses your mark.
This article aims to explain all the key points about trademark monitoring.
Significance of Trademark Monitoring for your Business
- Opposing Competing Trademark Registrations:
Imagine a scenario where a competing business files a trademark that is potentially harmful to your brand. As a trademark owner, you may object to any new trademarks that are deleterious for you. The USPTO might approve a mark that you believe is confusingly similar to your own. This can happen despite searching its database of registered and pending marks as part of the registration process. Hence trademark monitoring becomes absolutely crucial to stop any registrations as soon as possible.
- Detecting and fixing potential conflicts early:
It is highly advisable to nip the problem in the bud before it becomes too big. The more a potential infringer invests in the trademark, the more likely they are going to fight back. Trademark monitoring aids you to detect cases of infringements or use of your mark without authorization. Successfully protecting your trademark against any infringement has another benefit. It strengthens your trademark in future disputes.
Basically, a good trademark monitoring helps you resolve potential conflicts sooner and without much investment of time or money.
Scope of Trademark Monitoring
Trademark monitoring requires keeping a constant eye on a lot of domains of information. It is of utmost importance that all your bases are covered to ensure maximum protection. The following should be the scope of your watch:
- Federal Trademark Applications: You must monitor filings with the USPTO to protect your rights. As we told you, some entities may inadvertently file a trademark application that is very similar to yours. It is your job to enforce your rights and raise the alarm about an infringement.
- Common-Law Trademarks: Some brands may not want a federal trademark, and so they won’t register for one either. But they can use a common law trademark, which has no records in the USPTO So you must keep an eye for such trademarks as well.
- Search Engine Results. To get the full picture of how trademarks are in use, search for your mark on the Internet. Some businesses may not do any searches and just start using a mark callously. That mark may turn out to be very similar to yours. You can set up Google Alert for your trademark name so you get automatic notifications whenever Google updates its index.
- Trademark Squatting: It’s an act of registering other people’s marks as their own by squatters in other countries in order to gain benefits from original marks or real trademark You have to keep an eye on this to prevent it from happening.
Need a vigilant Monitoring Service? – The Trademark Watch Company
You know that a lot of your business rides on the brand name. That brand name needs protection in the form of trademarks. But that protection is not enough, and trademark monitoring is absolutely crucial. It is difficult to manage so many things at once. So it’s advisable to hire a professional to take care of this for you. The Trademark Watch Company offers the widest and the most flexible search coverage. To ensure this, we carry out all our searches manually, and not via computers. We also want to ensure that our prices are affordable without compromise on quality. Your satisfaction is our guarantee.
To make an inquiry, contact us on The Trademark Watch Company.
Other related Articles:
A to Z of Trademark Registration
What do we mean by a Federal Trademark Registration?
