The Importance of a Trade Mark Watching Service
When you’ve registered your trade mark and proudly hold your certificate, the journey doesn’t stop there.
It’s crucial to monitor and enforce your trade mark consistently. One effective method to ensure this is by setting up a trade mark watching service. This service acts like your very own brand guardian, keeping a watchful eye on relevant trade mark registers across the globe and ready to take swift action against any new applications that dare to encroach on your brand.
Danielle Malone, Trade Mark Attorney at Pure Ideas, delves into what you need to know about trade mark watching services.
What is a Trade Mark Watching Service?
A watching service is a pivotal tool that enables you to monitor and act when your registered trade mark is being infringed upon or misused by third parties. It also allows you to oppose any pending trade mark applications that are too similar to your own before they proceed to registration.
This service is invaluable in maintaining the integrity of your brand, and we at Pure Ideas are here to assist you in setting up and implementing this service.
Once a watch is in place for a particular mark, it functions practically in the following manner: After a trade mark application is accepted, it is published for opposition purposes (in most countries). During this period, anyone can challenge the application. The publication period varies globally, but in the UK it’s two months, extendable by an additional month. Notifications of the publication, sometimes referred to as publication notices or watch notices, are issued in journals or online. Our watching service providers then send us a report of all published marks and notices that are relevant or similar to the marks we are watching.
We meticulously review all received notices, comparing them to the watched mark and their associated goods and services. If we identify a cited mark that is identical or confusingly similar to a client’s watched mark, we promptly inform the client to decide whether they want to take any action.
Why Early Action is Crucial
Taking action at the earliest possible stage is vital. Without a watch in place, you might miss the publication of applications and the deadlines to oppose them.
This oversight means problematic applications could proceed to registration, making it costly or too late to challenge them. Implementing a watching service is a cost-effective way to avoid such scenarios, potentially saving you significant expenses.
Setting Up a Watching Service
A watching service is an annual service, renewable each year. Similar to trade mark filings, watches use a classification system for goods and services; thus, the more classes watched, the higher the cost.
At Pure Ideas, we offer three levels of watching services, tailored to your needs:
• Basic Reporting: We report a watch notice if it is too similar to your own, without additional attorney advice.
• All-inclusive Reporting: We report a watch notice if it is too similar to your own, with additional attorney advice (e.g., on the likelihood of a possible opposition).
• Full Reporting: We report every single notice we receive, whether or not it is identical or confusingly similar to your watched mark and its goods and services.
How Can Pure Ideas Help?
A trade mark watch is an essential tool for maintaining your brand’s integrity and should be a key part of your intellectual property strategy. At Pure Ideas, we have a dedicated team of experts who can guide you through the entire process of setting up and maintaining a trade mark watch. Our services ensure that you are always in the loop and can take timely action against any potential threats to your brand.
You can give us a call or email to organise an appointment to find out how Pure Ideas can help.