Keeping your eye on your brand: trade mark watching

It is of course important to protect your brand through registration, it is equally important to continually monitor your registered marks to ensure they are not being used and abused by someone else.

This monitoring can be done through the process of trade mark watching.

Trade mark watching is a process completed by the trade mark owner, or someone on their behalf, in which any action taken by a third party which may take advantage or infringe your brand. The watcher will be looking for any potentially conflicting trade mark applications, any sale of counterfeit goods or any action taken on social media where the party is pretending to be you or damaging your reputation.

Trade mark watching and IP monitoring in general is a continuous process and will need to be started pretty much from the date of confirmation your registration was successful.

To protect your brand properly, you will need a trade mark strategy. This will depend on the size of your business, the resources available to you and how big your trade mark portfolio is.

The more marks you have the less likely it is you will be able to effectively watch and control the activity surrounding them all. You may have to be tactical which the marks that get the most attention. Your decision should consider which marks will damage your brand the most if it is infringed.

In relation to the practical considerations in relation to trade mark watching, time and money are key.

You can keep the process in-house which will reduce the financial costs but will require a substantial commitment of time from your business. Alternatively, you can implement a trade mark watching service who will take the matter off your hands but will be costly.

This will all depend on your budget and availability, what is important however is that you take action to protect your brand.

For more information, contact The Trademarkroom team today.

By Ellis Sweetenham