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Trade marks
Do not forget the monitoring of your trademark
For innovative companies, an intellectual property portfolio is important and has great value. By enforcing the rights, brands, among other things, can retain their value. You will have to enforce and prevent infringement yourself. Lioc has put together a package for you to monitor your trademark and for the first six months we offer you this subscription with your trademark registration for free in the Benelux region. This way you can see whether the monitoring and working method suits you. A first step to prevent counterfeiting.
What is trademark surveillance?
During a surveillance, we continuously monitor behind the scenes which new brands may correspond with your trademark and therefore possibly infringe your trademark right. Your trademark is compared with younger trademarks that are registered in the trademark registers. When a possible infringement is identified, we will notify you via email with a brief overview of the infringer(s) found. We can then discuss any next steps. For example, you can choose to take immediate action by sending a legal letter or starting an opposition procedure with the Registry.
Scope of monitoring
You can determine the scope of your monitoring yourself. For example, you can choose to disable surveillance only in the Benelux region. You can also extend this to EU surveillance, global surveillance, or surveillance in specific national countries of your choice. We can advise you in determining the most important and efficient scope of your surveillance. When determining the region, consider the countries in which your brand is registered, where products are manufactured or where the sales activities are located.
Being there on time is important
It is important to spot an infringing trademark in a timely manner. During the publication period of a trademark, one can still easily lodge an objection with the Register. As indicated earlier, making an objection to the Register in the form of an opposition procedure is better than starting a lawsuit. After five years of registration of the trademark, the trademark will also have to be tolerated. And that can have negative consequences for your brand.
Summarizing
Main points to consider:
- Do not forget to monitoring your brand
- Determine a region
- Take action in time when an infringement occur
Would you like to know more about guarding your trademark? Feel free to contact us for personal advice.
Photo by Scott Webb via Pexels
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