Trademark Monitoring

A federally registered trademark often prevents individuals from offering goods or services similar to those offered under the trademark, but this does not always guarantee protection. This is why it is a good idea to regularly monitor your trademark after it is successfully registered to make sure that others are not attempting to profit from your brand or business.

Effective monitoring is important because it can strengthen the credibility of your legal actions surrounding trademark infringement. If there are many parties infringing on your trademark, then trademark enforcement actions, like cease-and-desist letters, to an individual entity might not be as effective. They might have a stronger argument if you decide to file a claim against them in court.

One way to monitor new trademarks is to keep an eye on the USPTO’s official gazette that publishes newly registered trademarks and pending applications. If there is a trademark application that might infringe upon yours, you have up to 30 days from the publication date to file an opposition before it is formally registered.

The trademark-monitoring process can be quite time-consuming, especially for a small business. An experienced trademark attorney can assist with the monitoring process to help catch any potential infringements and address them before they start negatively affecting your brand. They can also review any potential legal actions that you perform to ensure that you have the legal grounds to pursue them.

Harrigan IP can perform both initial trademark searches and monitor any potential new trademarks to inform you of any that might be too similar to your own. Our experience in trademark law allows us to provide efficient and relevant information so that you can spend your time running your business. Contact us to ease the burden of monitoring your trademark.