Protecting your Brand's Integrity with a Trademark

 In the present fast-paced society and highly competitive environment, establishing a strong brand is pivotal to the success of every other business. Furthermore, protecting that brand deserves your utmost attention too. Yet, a lot of small scale businesses and startups nowadays overlook a crucial step in securing their brand - Trademark Registration.

What can be trademarked?

A trademark is a form of Intellectual Property (IP), which may be any unique name, word, symbol, or device used to identify and further distinguish the goods of one seller from those of others, for instance - Nike's Swoosh (logo). Besides, a trademark allows the seller to safeguard what's trademarked efficiently from both use and misuse by competitors while establishing brand loyalty among the customers. Trademarks also prevent confusion among the customers, who usually come to associate distinct attributes, to be specific quality, with a unique brand.

From a branding perspective, you can protect several assets, including names, taglines, logos, and packaging. However, it is imperative to make a point of the fact that these assets can obtain Trademark Protection only if they meet the subject matter eligibility. A phrase or word that's commonly used or already connected with another service or product in the same industry can't be trademarked. Let's consider an example to understand it. A generic term like "search engine" can't obtain trademark protection; however, a unique name like "Google" can. On the other hand, if your name is generic but used in the industry that's typically not related to the meaning of the term, then you may be able to trademark it, for instance - Apple (tech giant).

As a general rule, you can go ahead with trademarking your business name, if in case you use it while advertising to your target audience directly. If you are not making use of your business name in direct communication with your customers, then you can't obtain trademark protection for it as you are not connecting your name to your brand and also its attributes. Without any second thoughts, if your business name will be a critical part of your overall marketing strategy, then you must consider trademarking it. Additionally, the logo and tagline of your brand can also prove to be exceedingly good candidates for seeking trademark protection. The first litmus test corresponds to whether they are unique or not. The aspects that make a logo unique are the combination of the symbol with the company or brand name, their spatial relationship, and the colors. If the brand's tag line is a unique phrase, then you can consider trademarking it as well. For instance, Apple's "Think Different" connects its brand attribute, that is, quality, to its products.

The Trademark Registration Process

It is not necessarily expensive to obtain trademark protection. In the US, whoever establishes priority in a proposed mark is generally considered as its owner. To keep it straightforward, if you are the first company or individual using a unique mark for identifying your services or products, you don't need to register it for gaining the corresponding Trademark Rights. However, you must add the TM symbol to the brand to which you are claiming rights. Still, it is not a substitute for registering a proposed mark through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which indeed establishes ownership to a great extent and beyond a doubt.

It is crucial to keep in mind that everything depends highly on the uniqueness of your proposed mark. In today's digital era, the Internet is undoubtedly a brilliant platform for starting your Trademark Search. You can proactively visit the free websites, like the ones maintained by the USPTO, to make yourself familiar with the already existing trademarks. Besides, you can also consider hiring an attorney specializing in the Trademark Law for conducting detailed searches.

In the US, a trademark can be registered at the federal or state level. State-level trademark registrations are expensive and less potent than the federal trademark registrations. Quite often, a trademark is registered within one industry; however, it may be registered in more than one as well. The best option, without any doubt, depends on the scope of your business and its geographic area of operation. International trademark protection is much more costly, extremely complicated, and expensive to enforce.

If you go ahead with filing a Trademark Application with the USPTO, then it will make sure that no other trademark similar to yours exists. The trademark registration process can take months. Therefore, it is highly advisable to do your homework well, because if your proposed mark resembles an already existing trademark, then your trademark application will face rejection.

It is a matter of fact that yes - the more you try to differentiate your brand from others in the industry, the more convenient it will be for you to safeguard it in the best possible manner. So, pick a name or logo that identifies your brand uniquely and protects it from your competitors.

Ref: https://www.kashishworld.com/blog/protecting-your-brands-integrity-with-a-trademark/

Bentley Motors Loses Decade-long TM Battle Against Manchester Clothing Company

Bentley Motors, a British manufacturer and marker of luxury vehicles, has recently lost a long-running trademark dispute against Manchester clothing company - Bentley Clothing, which implies that the car-giant can't anymore use the Bentley name on its clothing range in the UK. For more than 30 years, Bentley Motors has been selling men and women's clothing, including wallets, bags, purses, scarves, baseball caps, and wraps. However, a judge at the High Court in London has now ruled that Bentley Motors has violated the Trademark Rights of family-run Bentley Clothing by using the name Bentley on its own range of products.

Bentley Clothing started trading in 1962 and owns three trademarks corresponding to the word 'Bentley' registered in class 25 for use on clothing and headgear. The car firm had begun selling its clothing line in 1987 - a move described as ‘honest concurrent use’ of the trademark. The trademark dispute dates back to 1998 when Bentley Clothing had approached the Volkswagen-owned car company to license its mark to Bentley Motors. However, the luxury vehicle manufacturer countered by making attempts to cancel the clothing brand's trademarks and failed miserably. Bentley Motors' combination mark has two wings, joined by the letter 'B' at the center with the word Bentley written underneath. Bentley Clothing said in its lawsuit that the carmaker was well aware of its business and trademarks since 1998 and still started using the combination mark in 2002.

The recent decision rendered at the High Court means that even after several attempts made by Bentley Motors to cancel the Bentley Clothing's trademark rights at the Intellectual Property (IP) Office of the UK; the car-giant no longer holds the rights to use the name on its clothing range in the nation. The court said that an average customer would see the car giant's combination mark as two different trademarks used simultaneously with the dominant part of the trademark being 'Bentley.' Besides, the company will also have to restrict its future range of headgear and clothing to only caps, jackets, silk ties, and scarves.

A spokesperson for Bentley Motors said that the company is considering an appeal against the court's decision and is very disappointed as their brand is recognized internationally operating in several markets around the world. He also mentioned that the company has been selling its clothing line in the UK for more than 30 years, and there has never been any confusion with another company's trademark.

Simon Bennett of Fox Williams solicitors representing Bentley Clothing in the case said that this trademark dispute demonstrates the power of trademarks when it comes to protecting the trademark rights of even the smallest of companies against large multinational corporations.

Ref- https://www.kashishworld.com/blog/bentley-motors-loses-decade-long-tm-battle-against-manchester-clothing-company/

Trademarks in the World of Advertising

Whether you are planning to launch a marketing campaign or come up with new advertising, you are potentially opening yourself to trademark liability. In the present fast-paced economy and highly-competitive business world, business firms and companies are highly proactive of their unique creations and Intellectual Property (IP) and never hesitate to initiate legal proceedings against anyone who uses their registered words, symbols, logos, or slogans and infringes on their Registered Trademarks.

Nowadays, the stakes of spending an enormous amount of money on an advertising campaign and then receiving a 'cease and desist' order within a few days of launching it are way too high. Therefore, it has become essential to reduce the chances of receiving one of those dreaded legal letters and increasing your brand awareness by significantly analyzing and clearing your potential trademarks.

Without any doubt, there shall always be some risk involved in launching new advertising and marketing campaigns. Whether it relates to a wide-scale printing advertising campaign or a small-scale social media campaign, business companies and owners keep on monitoring each other for potential Trademark Infringement. The issue here is, even if your company or business isn't violating or infringing on some other company's Trademark Rights, just the mere expense of fighting a lawsuit can be more significant than the costs of scrapping the marketing or advertising campaign and starting fresh.
So let's make ourselves familiar with a few practices that companies can use to avoid the pitfalls in which they may fall while coming up with a brand new advertising campaign.

1- Make Sure to Analyze and Examine your Trademarks by Performing a Clearance Search

When you decide to launch a new marketing campaign, you must begin by analyzing what distinctive elements of your campaign potentially implicate the Trademark Law. Many people across the globe aren't aware of the fact that along with words and logos, even the sounds, colors, and movements can be registered as trademarks and obtain Trademark Protection if they are capable of uniquely identifying a single company or source. Besides, it is imperative to know that descriptive and generic phrases or words are least likely to obtain trademark protection, until and unless a company has spent a massive amount of time and money in associating all customer recognition to that one brand. For instance, the phrase 'American Airlines' is descriptive; however, there is only one American Airlines®. On the other hand, phrases or words that may require an additional step to connect with the products or services can be registered as trademarks, such as Mr. Clean, for cleaning solutions. After identifying the potential trademarks, you must look forward to performing a comprehensive Trademark Search to come across any company already using something identical for related products or services.

2- Always Review your Use of Someone Else's Intellectual Property

Comparative advertising is indeed a powerful and efficient tool for making your brand, product, or service stand out. There is an entire law surrounding the issue of fake advertising; however, under trademark law, it is necessary to be aware of the fact that you have certain strict limits concerning the use of someone else's trademark in your advertising campaign. The crucial factor here is whether your use of the trademark is likely to create confusion in the minds of the customers or not.  Additionally, you should also be very careful while using another person's images, artistic works, or drawings without their legal permission as such works are protected under Copyright Law.

3- Don't Forget to Monitor the Marketplace

Monitoring the marketplace yourself to ensure that nobody is improperly using your trademarks is of utmost importance. If another company's or individual's trademark is similar to your registered trademark, then your brand and business can suffer through irreparable harm and lose its strength. For instance, the same name for two different products, like 'Dove' chocolate and 'Dove' soap shall significantly reduce the distinctiveness for both the brands.
Ref- https://www.kashishworld.com/blog/trademarks-in-the-world-of-advertising/

Planning to Launch a Website? Avoid these Common Intellectual Property Pitfalls

Having a lawsuit filed against you in court, or receiving a cease and desist letter is never a welcome occurrence. For diverting multiple resources from your business and moving towards resolving the infringement disputes, it is essential to invest wisely in Intellectual Property (IP) before launching a website and avoid the following common pitfalls.

Pitfall No. 1 - TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

After selecting a brand name for your company, website, or product and spending an enormous amount of money in its promotion and marketing, you may receive a letter from another company or individual alleging that you are infringing its Trademark Rights. The plaintiff would demand you to stop the infringement of its brand or name.  In this situation, you will face tough choices - would you rename your brand or pay a lawyer to fight on your behalf?

How to avoid it - Before investing too much in a brand name, run initial searches on the internet and applicable foreign databases like EUIPO, USPTO, and WIPO to come across already registered trademarks and candidate marks. Furthermore, you should also try to foresee the position of your company in the next three years and make sure no other company or organization is occupying a similar space in the business environment. Consulting a Trademark Attorney having additional resources and expertise can offer aid in identifying and evaluating the risks involved if any. Therefore, it would be wise to say that a little amount invested before can save you vastly more down the road.

Pitfall No. 2 – CHOOSING A NAME THAT CAN’T OBTAIN TRADEMARK PROTECTION

While selecting your brand name, you should make sure that the proposed trademark can be registered, enforced, and protected. Additionally, it should also be descriptive and relevant to your business and its marketing strategy so that you face no difficulty in stopping any other company from using a confusingly identical mark or claiming any damages.

How to avoid it - Once you have selected the name, you must file a Trademark Application by covering all the specifications of the proposed mark for your products or services. The application will then go through the examination phase, in which the proposed mark is examined to determine whether it is suitable for Trademark Registration or not. If the application is accepted, then the owner owns the exclusive rights acting as a deterrent to others adopting a similar name.

Pitfall No. 3 – FAILING TO COORDINATE BETWEEN YOUR DOMAIN NAME AND TRADEMARK

After getting your trademark registered, you would want to register the corresponding domain name for your website as well. However, in some cases, you might discover that the domain name, which you were looking forward to obtaining, has already been taken by another company or individual. If the owner comes to know about your plans of launching a web business with the same name, he would either stop you from doing so or ask you to pay a hefty sum to obtain the domain name.

How to avoid it - Coordinating the timing of Trademark Filing and disclosure of the intended name with the purchase of domain name can help in ensuring that both the names are affordable and available at the same time.

Pitfall No. 4 – USING PLAGIARIZED CONTENT

People nowadays often copy the content available on the internet and use it on their websites. Consequently, the owners of the copyrights in that content can initiate legal proceedings against you or demand monetary damages for using the material without their permission.

How to avoid it - Make sure you reserve all the rights to the content published on your website. You must never copy content, videos, or images without the consent of the owner. Furthermore, remember that using names of people or showing their faces while promoting your business may infringe their personality rights. Besides, you should also make a point to have all the agreements and contracts with any third-party content providers in place. Otherwise, the contractual worker will claim the copyright.

Ref: https://www.kashishworld.com/blog/planning-to-launch-a-website-avoid-these-common-intellectual-property-pitfalls/

LeBron James Seeks to Trademark the Phrase 'Taco Tuesday'

LeBron James, an American professional basketball player, has recently filed a Trademark Application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the term 'Taco Tuesday.' The trademark request states that James wants to use the phrase corresponding to the marketing and advertising services offered by various passive, shareable, and viral platforms and channels like mobile marketing, internet marketing, social media, search engine marketing, and blogging. To be specific, the basketball star is willing to create a brand around his obsession and habit of eating Tacos on Tuesdays.

Irrespective of the fact that this trademark filing may appear to be somewhat off-the-wall, it does make sense. As of late, James has been making sincere efforts to expand his empire past sports into entertainment and various other realms. Without any doubt, Taco Tuesday has become a total event for his entire family. Quite frequently, he is seen on Instagram, posting stories of him eating Tacos along with screaming the phrase, "Taco Tuesday!" Moreover, he has even got T-shirts with the same phrase.

In any case, the extent that trademarks go, 'Taco Tuesday' has now become quite famous. The phrase is present worldwide and enormously used. However, the Wyoming-based chain, Taco John's, already owns the phrase as a trademark for their restaurants and has event sent cease and desist letters to the ones who try and use the phrase. Although they can't stop every restaurant or cafe in the country that attempts to use the phrase 'Taco Tuesday,' they are left having to try; if only so they don't lose the trademark themselves.
According to various reports, James and his team (LBJ Trademarks) aren't surely launching anything with the Taco Tuesday name as of now, and are still very much in the exploratory phases. Taco Tuesday will continue to remain a lifestyle for James till the time he doesn't own any exclusive Trademark Rights for the same.

Ref:

LeBron James Seeks to Trademark the Phrase ‘Taco Tuesday’ #News #LeBronJames #Trademark #Tacotuesday https://t.co/0t2lIi21Uy

— Kashish Intellectual Property Group (@Kashish_IPGroup) September 11, 2019