Protecting your Intellectual Property is very important to your business’s success, and every business has IP. In certain industries such as tech and entertainment, it is obvious that there is IP to protect. However, for certain industries, say a realtor or a barbershop, your IP might not be obvious. Every business uses a mark (name, symbol/logo, or both) to identify itself in the market place. This is your trademark (or servicemark if your business provides a service as opposed to a good, but for this blog the analysis is the same therefore in the following trademark refers to both trademarks and servicemarks). Trademarks receive protection under the law to benefit the consumer. For free markets to operate properly the consumer needs to be able to identify the origin of the product or service he/she is consuming.
Once you use your trademark in commerce you have common law rights to the mark. These rights are not as strong as the rights that derive from a federal registration. There is potentially a great deal of value in a trademark. It is very difficult to separate out a business’s brand from its trademark, and often the trademark is the paramount asset of the business’s brand. If another business infringes on your trademark, it could cost you money; and on the other side licensing your trademark could be quit a lucrative source of revenue for the business.
What you need to do to protect your trademark:
-Identify the trademark as such by placing the TM at the end. This serves to put the public on notice that you are asserting rights over the mark.
-Register the trademark with the USTPO. Again, your rights in the mark derive from its use, but obtaining a Federal Registration boost your rights as it is very strong evidence of your ownership of the mark and provides for attorney’s fees whenever you have to go into court to defend your mark.
-Use the trademark. If you do not use it, you can lose it.
-Enforce your rights. Even with a federally registered trademark, you can lose your rights if you do not enforce them. If someone is potentially infringing on your rights you need to take steps to stop them. This could range from a cease and desist letter to full blown litigation.
