Protecting your Brand
Protecting Your Brand
You brand sets you apart from other businesses and gives you a unique identity. Your brand allows customers to distinguish your business from others. Therefore, your brand is a valuable asset that should be protected.
One of the simplest methods to determine infringement of your trademark is by using internet search engines. Popular search engines such as Bing and Google can be used to make regular searches to check on your trademark. For example, you can use Google Alerts to receive notifications whenever the Google Bot comes across your trademark while crawling the web.
Another method is to watch the official trademarks register for potentially trademarks conflicting trademarks that have been accepted. Accepted trademarks are advertised after acceptance wherein interested parties may oppose the acceptance of the trademark applications within the time period provided. Monitoring accepted trademarks may be done by using the official database by using a watch service such as an automated watch service by IP Monitor
Once it comes to your attention that your trademark is being used without proper authorization, you may choose to take action. The first step of the process is usually to have a trademarks attorney parent and infringement opinion to determine whether infringement actually exists, and if so sending a cease and desist letter to the alleged infringer.
As such, protecting your trademark from unauthorized use requires constant vigilance and should be done by all businesses, big or small.
Last modified:03/10/2013