Rights erode through non-use and through tolerating infringement.
A trademark only works while it points at one source. Owners who let encroachment go lose the standing to object to the next one, and the register does not police itself.
Drawings from expired US patents. Lit: US 2,475,841, Frederick M. Jones, Air Conditioning Unit, filed 1944, granted 1949.
Catching a conflicting application is far cheaper than catching a competitor.
A watch service surfaces new applications for confusingly similar marks while they are still applications. At that stage an opposition is available, and an opposition costs a fraction of a lawsuit.
Once a mark registers and a business is built on it, the same conflict becomes an infringement problem with an established user on the other side. The difference in cost between those two moments is the whole argument for monitoring.
Not every conflict deserves a demand letter. Some deserve a phone call, some a coexistence agreement, and some nothing at all. Sending an aggressive letter to a party you cannot beat is worse than sending none.
Ongoing work
- Watch services for new conflicting applications
- Oppositions and cancellations before the TTAB
- Demand letters, responses, and coexistence agreements
- Marketplace and counterfeit takedowns
- Declarations of use, incontestability, and renewals docketed
Questions we get about this.
What is trademark monitoring?
Trademark monitoring, sometimes called a watch service, is ongoing surveillance of new trademark applications and marketplace use for marks that could conflict with yours.
The point is timing. A conflicting application can be opposed during a short window after it publishes. After that window closes, your options get slower and more expensive.
Do I have to enforce my trademark?
No rule requires you to sue every infringer. Trademark rights do depend on the mark continuing to identify a single source, though, and an owner who tolerates widespread use can find the mark has weakened or become generic.
Consistent, proportionate enforcement protects the right. Indiscriminate enforcement wastes money and occasionally creates an opponent you did not need.
What is the opposition window?
After examination, an approved mark publishes for opposition for 30 days, during which anyone who believes they would be damaged by the registration can oppose it.
A potential opposer can extend that window by request, so in practice the risk period often runs longer than 30 days.
Someone is selling counterfeits of my product. What can I do?
Marketplace takedown programs are usually the fastest route, and most major platforms run one that requires a registration to use. That is one of the practical advantages a federal registration buys.
Where the seller is identifiable and substantial, a demand letter or an action may be worth it. Where they are anonymous and replaceable, takedowns and monitoring are the realistic tools.
What deadlines do I have to keep after registration?
A declaration of continued use falls due between the fifth and sixth years after registration. After that, the year before every tenth anniversary needs a combined declaration of use and renewal.
Missing a deadline opens a six-month surcharge window, and missing that cancels the registration. We docket these so they do not depend on anyone remembering.
Tell us what you are protecting.
Send the registration or the mark and we will set up a watch and put every renewal deadline on a docket.