PIERCE IP LAW PLLC Protecting Creativity & Innovation
Attorneys at Law
Registering a trademark/service mark will --
Deter others from infringing you mark.
Perception of your trademark directly links to the identity and reputation of your company
Enforce your trademark rights using legal means.
Occasionally, in the course of business, you might find others using a mark confusingly similar to yours. A federal registration gives you the right to sue an offending party and recover up to triple damages, the profits made by an infringer using your mark, and attorney fees for litigation.
Provide you with opportunities to expand.
Conduct business with the future in mind. A federal registration of your trademark or service mark allows you to use its priority date for obtaining registrations in international markets.
By continuously monitoring your trademark, you can --
Maintain exclusive rights to your mark.
Litigation is expensive and time-consuming. Continuous monitoring of your mark can help you avoid a court appearance by alerting you early to confusingly similar marks, promptly when filed. This timeliness allows you to oppose registration of the infringing mark, preventing third parties from obtaining rights to the mark.
Prevent others from using your mark inappropriately.
Protecting your trademark rights is your responsibility. Monitoring your mark reduces the likelihood of someone else infringing your rights damaging the "good will" associated with your mark. Diligent monitoring is evidence to show that you took steps to protect your mark, countering claims of abandonment.
Maintain strength of your mark.
If someone adopts a mark confusingly similar to yours, and you do not stop them, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office views your mark as diluted, thus weakening your mark. The longer the confusingly similar mark is allowed to exist, the weaker your mark becomes, whereby effectively limiting your ability to dispute the use of that mark.
By commissioning a trademark search before adopting a mark, you can --
Safeguard against potential lawsuits.
It is your responsibility to determine if you can legally use your mark. Even if you are not aware of an existing, conflicting mark, you may be liable for trademark infringement.
Ensure your marketing pays off.
Today, marketing is a major business expense. Why spend resources for name recognition and "good will" only to abandon them when someone else notifies you that you cannot use your mark.
Register with confidence.
Trademark filing fees are non-refundable. If a similar mark is discovered after you file an application, it may bar your federal registration, and the fees paid to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are lost.
By renewing your trademark registration, you will --
Maintain exclusivity throughout the United States.
Your customers' primary means of distinguishing your products and services from those of competitors' is recognition of your trademark. You have worked hard to make your mark visible, creating a valuable asset and marketing it to build up your company's name and reputation in the marketplace. Do not throw it away. Protect that asset and the investment in it by renewing your registration timely.
Attain incontestability status
Using your mark continuously for five years may make it eligible to be declared incontestable, shielding it from third parties seeking to cancel it. If incontestable, it cannot be attacked by claims that it is confusingly similar to another mark, that is merely functional, or that it lacks secondary meaning.