How to Preserve Your Trademark

Trademarks are fairly complicated. If you want to preserve your trademark you need to do a few things. The following is an explanation of the steps you should take to protect and preserve your trademark.

Step one: Register your trademark.

The first and best thing you can do to preserve your trademark is go through the right channels for registering it and making it legally your trademark. You can register it at a local, state level, or you can register it for the while US. This is the better option, as if you federally register your trademark, someone in another part of the country can't use that trademark. However, if you only register it in your state, someone in another state might try and register the same, or a similar trademark federally, which would hurt your trademark. So, think smart.

In the United States, trademark rights arise from use of the trademark. The fact is, no matter how good a trademark would be for your business, it is first come, first serve with who gets them. Thus, the first to use a trademark or service mark in connection with goods or services owns the right to exclude others from using the same or similar mark on the same or similar goods or services. This is done to preserve your rights so that a person or business does not use a mark that is confusingly similar to yours in a manner that is likely to confuse consumers. I they do you may be entitled to stop them from doing so and recover damages in an infringement lawsuit. However, without federal registration of a trademark, your exclusive rights to the mark exist only within the geographic region in which you sell your products or services. This means, to preserve your rights, you need to shell out the expense to actually register your trademark federally.

Another aspect of registering your trademark is choosing a skilled trademark attorney to write up your application so that your trademark is accurate, and you have the fullest amount of trademark protection possible.

Step two: Use your trademark properly.

The next best way to preserve your trademark is through proper trademark use. If you use it wrong you forfeit your rights, and your trademark will not be well preserved. So, read further for direction on what proper trademark use is:

First and foremost, understand that proper use of your trademarks and service marks is critical to preserving your rights, whether or not you've registered your brands, you have to do the following to preserve your trademark.

1. Use your trademark directly on the subject goods, or on the container or packaging in which the goods are sold. It is a good idea to use your trademark in your advertising, but it will not hold up well if you do not use it on your products as well. Just using it in advertising is not enough to preserve trademark rights. It is your trademark, use it wherever you can.

2. Do not use your mark as a noun. Using your trademark the right way is a big part of preserving your rights. So, for example, you wan to always use your mark as an adjective, if possible, followed by a noun. Examples of this include KLEENEX facial tissue, or KODAK film or FIDELITY financial services, do not say, "Pass me a Kleenex" or "We are Fidelity." Adjectives, not nouns!

3. Distinguish your mark from other text. If you have your trademark in a paragraph of typed text, are you going to be able to see it? Use all capital letters, different fonts or colors, or at least initial capital letters. Do something, anything to set apart your trademarks from the surrounding text of your marketing materials.

4. Identify your marks with a "TM" or "SM" sign following the mark.

5. Use the r symbol whenever you use a federally registered trademark.

6. Do not use the trademark in a possessive form unless the mark itself is possessive.

7. Do not pluralize your trademark. Instead pluralize the common noun. Remember, your trademark is an adjective, not a noun, and adjectives do not pluralize. So, for example, say, "I own two Laz-E Boy recliners", not, "I own two Laz-E Boys."

8. It is important that you do not use your trademark as a verb. For instance, even XEROX cannot xerox, it can only photocopy. Following these eight tips is imperative if you want to keep your trademark rights and retain the authenticity of your trademark. As soon as you start using it wrong, you give other people the permission to do the same.

Another important thing to understand with trademark use is that when to use "TM", "SM" or r: Use the "TM" symbol after trademarks and "SM" after service marks that are not registered with the USPTO, and only upon receiving federal registration for your marks, can use the r symbol. It is best to put the mark after the trademark, but before the noun, so for example FAT BOYr ice cream sandwiches.

It is also smart to establish a style guide so that no matter what is published from your company, it will be the same. A style guide is going to ensure that whenever anyone uses your trademark that they use it the right way so that you preserve the rights to it. Trademarks are very specific, and so you would not want an employee using it incorrectly unwittingly, but by doing so forfeiting the rights and protection a trademark gives. In order to preserve trademark rights, all trademarks must be used consistent with these guidelines, so make sure those guidelines are known.

Step three: Keep your trademark registration up to date.

Trademark paperwork and renewal are sometimes hard to track. Once your trademark is approved and issued, your registration is stored in a software database. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has record of your trademark, but that does not mean they will inform you that your trademark is about to expire or of any changes in trademark law that may apply to your mark. So, in order to preserve your trademark you need to be responsible about staying informed about these things. Failure to maintain trademark protection can result in the loss of your registration and valuable rights. To prevent this from happening, you want to stay informed, and not let your trademark expire, but stay on top of renewals. Frequent checking with the USPTO about trademark laws is smart.

Step four: Think ahead.

One of the things you can do to preserve your trademark if you are not yet ready to launch the product or service, but will be within six months is file an ITU application. This preserves your rights against others throughout the United States even though you have yet to launch your new product or service. By filing an ITU Application, you may preserve your trademark rights over others who could apply for the same mark within the six-month period. If after six months you still have not launched your product you will have to refile, or file an extension of time. You can only file extensions for three years. However, during that time you will have to comply with certain PTO requirements to keep your application alive. Once you actually use the mark, you will then need to file an Allegation of Use, which requires an additional fee, but then officially registers your trademark. This is a great step for people who want to start a marketing campaign for pre-selling, or who have an idea, but have not yet produced the product.

Step five: Watch others.

Monitor your trademark and others to ensure that your trademark is first being used correctly, and second is not being infringed upon. Small and medium-sized enterprises don't always have the expertise in-house to monitor their trademarks against infringement, and do not feel the cost is worth hiring outside help. However, without proper processes and procedures in place, how can a company ensure the protection of the IP it has worked so hard to create? Getting a trademark is a process, and it costs money, you do not want to waste that by not employees the right protection of your trademark through monitoring. One of the best things you can do is use the proper patent and trademark notices on products and corporate communications. Businesses should also broadcast their rights wherever possible. This means in advertising, conferences, press releases and more. Next, you want to make sure that the details of your trademark portfolio are kept up-to-date, and are posted on your website so that others are aware of your rights. Be creative in promoting public knowledge of your trademark in order to discourage infringers. Next, be sure to register trademarks to cover every aspect of each product's use and seek to assert your rights wherever possible, so that you can preserve them. Ignorance is no excuse, but it could cause you some problems. Make competitors aware of your IP so that they do not unknowingly infringe.