Trademark monitoring
At FGGH IP, we advise on how to effectively conduct trademark monitoring.
We help select trademarks important to the client for monitoring.
We determine the territorial and subject scope of monitoring, and then periodically provide a report on the results of the monitoring conducted.
If a conflicting mark appears in the monitoring report, we recommend taking appropriate action, for example, by filing an opposition. We then support clients during the opposition procedure.
Effective use of a trademark in trade – on an exclusive basis – is possible only if the monopoly obtained remains unshaken.
To achieve such an effect, it is necessary to control emerging new applications for marks identical or similar to the client’s mark, made by third parties, often in violation of the client’s rights.
To this end, we provide advice on how to define the optimal scope of monitoring the client’s marks, how to identify applications that interfere with the client’s rights and, ultimately, how to effectively eliminate them.
Efficient and prompt blocking of another’s application makes it possible to remove the threats of unfair practice by a potential competitor. The time and costs associated with conducting mark monitoring are disproportionate to the time and costs associated with the subsequent need to initiate invalidation proceedings for a mark that – as a result of the lack of monitoring – has been registered.
It should be emphasized that most patent offices around the world do not conduct monitoring of prior rights, do not inform right holders of applications for new, identical or similar marks, which means that the entrepreneur must take care of his rights himself.
In the absence of proactive action, countless marks even identical to the entrepreneur’s mark may appear in the registers. There is a simple way to deal with this – conduct systematic monitoring and take effective action when conflicting marks are revealed.