Trademark Watch and Monitor- Importance

Trademark is an important asset that adds considerable value to the business. A trademark can command tremendous reputation and goodwill. Protecting of trademark from potential infringement is crucial to maintain the value of Intellectual Property portfolio of any entity.

Each day, thousands of new trademarks are filed/ registered worldwide with over 11 million application filings as reported in year 2018-19[1]. How will you know if one of these marks infringes on your trademark or brand?

Trademark Watch Service

Trademark watching or monitoring is an important tool in tracking existing and potential trademarks. It is an important process which helps companies/ individuals to identify the trademark infringement in a timely manner. The trademark watch service monitors trademarks which are registered or are in the mid of the registration process to check any potential infringement. It allows trademark owners to get alerts when the filing of a similar trademark takes place.

Misuse of the trademark is on the rise and you need to monitor the exploitation of your trademark both nationally and internationally. Therefore, once the mark is registered, it’s important to monitor both the market and the official trademarks register as your competitors might still try to use, and even register, the same or similar marks.

Significance of Trademark Watch/ Monitor Service

The earlier the owner of a trademark identifies infringement of the trademark, the easier it is for the owner to enforce its trademark rights. Trademark watch assists by notifying you whenever an identical/ similar mark is published in the Trademarks Journal or Gazette worldwide. A successful opposition against a trademark application filed for a similar/identical or deceptively similar mark will prevent it from being registered.

Opposition to be filed within Statutory deadline

In some jurisdictions, notice of opposition is required to be filed within a statutory period (for eg. 30 days or 60 days) from the date of publication of a potentially conflicting/ identical trademark. If the opposition is not filed timely or deadline is missed, it will still be possible to challenge the trademark registration, however, the same will be more time consuming and costly.

Since there are strict deadlines to initiate opposition proceedings following publication in most of the jurisdictions, timely trademark watch and monitoring service assumes significant importance.

Trademark Watch Service- Benefits 1.

1.      Opting for Trademark watch or monitor service helps one to file for timely oppositions by detecting any trademark request that is in the publication stage so that registration of similar or deceptively similar trademark can be avoided within the statutory timeline.

2.      Early identification of conflicting trademark is important for brands at risk in building up evidence of misuse when acting against the infringement.

3.      An effective trademark watch strategy not only avoids any trademark loss but also prevent loss to the business.