Once you have adopted and begun using a trademark or service mark, it is
important to maintain your rights in the mark. The first step is to use the
mark consistently and continuously. It is important as well to monitor
potential infringing uses of your mark by others. Failure to prevent
another from using a confusingly similar mark can lead to an involuntary
loss of rights in your mark over time. If multiple users flood the
marketplace with similar marks, your trademark or service mark could lose
its brand significance altogether.
One way to keep an eye out for potential
infringers is to search the Internet regularly. It is important to search
for variants of your mark, because a confusingly similar use does not have
to be identical (e.g., Johnson and Johnston, or Apex and Apeks, could
be confused). It is useful also to regularly check the United States Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) database to see if anyone is trying to register
a confusingly similar mark.
While the
USPTO database does not cover common law uses or state law registrations, it
does cover the important category of federal trademark applications and
registrations. The marks in the USPTO database are important because (1)
they give some indication of marks that have been deemed by their owners to
have enough market potential to warrant spending the resources on obtaining
a federal registration, and (2) they are the only marks that a USPTO
Examiner reviews in determining confusing similarity for registration
purposes.
Keeping an
eye on marks pending in the USPTO can be a daunting task. Most businesses
do not have the time to have a designated reader of the Official Gazette,
the publication from the USPTO where trademarks are published for opposition
purposes -- a party has 30 days from the date a mark is published in the
Official Gazette to oppose the registration of that mark. This is where a
professional trademark watch service can come in handy.
For roughly
$300, a professional watch service typically will perform a worldwide watch
for essentially equivalent published marks, including confusingly similar
marks in at least one class. Other watch options are available as well.
For example, a watch service could be retained to watch for newly filed
and published marks in the USPTO for roughly the same price as the
limited worldwide search.
Various
watch service vendors offer free trials (usually three months) to enable
prospective customers to determine whether or not they would benefit from
this type of service. We work closely with such vendors and can arrange the
trial service for you. As “they” say, there is no time like the present to
get started. If you would like to give it a try, just contact Doug Verge at
603. 627.8119.
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