Trademark is an asset to a business so we need to ensure effective use and the safety of the asset for which a watch is needed to be kept. In Trademark watching we examine all relevant trademark registers to identify the trademarks which are identical or similar to others trademarks. Trademark watch ensures that our mark is protected from an infringer or an unauthorized user.
The watch is also a proactive measure to help the trademark owner to enforce his mark by acting against any infringement and misuse of his mark in a timely basis. During trademark watch we generally look into relevant trademark register and compare the mark to check any unauthorized use of our trademark.
The watch can be tailored to meet your specific business needs but, in general is done to identify the following:
Identical Trademark Watch:
In this type of watch we identify the marks or devices which includes logos or labels that are visually or phonetically identical.
Similar Trademark Watch:
In Similar Trademark watch, we generally identify identical and confusingly similar marks.
Trademark Watch with Opinion:
During such watch the attorney provides with an opinion based on the results of the identical or similar trademark watch report depending on client’s consideration of prior rights and the likely impact on clients business and market share.
Trademark watch prevents trademark dilution, whereas trademark dilution is blurring or fading of the famous trademark. Through dilution, a trademark starts getting weak and slowly due to improper enforcement starts to loose distinctiveness and loses its ability to distinguish the owner’s product with that of competitor’s.
The trademark dilution applies to well known or famous marks so when your mark is known in the market and your business is growing, a third party would generally tend to take advantage by unauthorized use so there comes the need to be extra diligent. So it is always advisable to proactively conduct a watch which would prevent such dilution.
For examples of marks which are “famous” like: XEROX, COCA-COLA, KODAK and REEBOK. It would be much difficult to protect a mark like APPLE (computers) from getting diluted, since the trademark APPLE has been used with respect to other well-known products, such as the Beatles records, and has been used by many other businesses.
Trademark watch is also done by looking into trademark registers and searching for application for trademark filing and see whether any mark has been applied which same or similar in visuals, phonetics, in writing or pronunciation, and is applied for same or similar goods/services. If such case occurs the remedy is filing opposition against the trademark application pending and opposes the mark to be granted.
Trademark watch service really safeguards your asset from being exploited by providing remedies like bringing an action of infringement suit or opposition proceedings.
