I want to protect my name / logo.
You have developed a company, commercial or a product name in order to stand out in the market and create business reputation? A well-designed logo or a corporate identity will be linked to your business and distinguishes you from your competitors? You want to protect this most valuable long-term investment? You are at the right place.
Trademark protection is one of the most efficient tools to stand out from your competitors. It can cover a wide variety of signs – such as verbal elements, logos, 3D elements, patterns, colours as well as movement, sound and/or multimedia elements – provided they are distinctive.
By protecting your name(s) and logo(s) through trade mark protection, you get peace of mind and security and will be able to prevent copies or unlawful use of the sign by competitors or counterfeiters.
A trademark constitutes a valuable intangible asset that allows you to build consumer loyalty. Investing in trademark protection is thus a real means of increasing the value of your business, products and services.
To achieve trademark protection, it is necessary to file an application and to obtain registration of your name, logo and/or any other sign eligible to be registered as a trademark. Depending on the geographical area and field of activities in which you are interested, different strategies can be considered (Benelux Trademark, European Union Trademark, International Registration, the so-called “Madrid system”, …). Our team advises and assists you from the beginning, in all the relevant steps and procedures, including assessment of the distinctive character, prior availability searches, refusals, oppositions and cancellation actions (IP Prosecution).
If you want to take action against a conflicting trademark, opposition actions are relatively inexpensive procedures to resolve a trademark dispute without going to court. However, such action is only possible during a determined timeframe and, after that period, the filing of a cancellation procedure can be considered. Our team advises you on the chances of success of such kind of actions and defends your rights before the relevant Trademark Offices.
Once registered, your trademark is protected for a certain period – 10 years in most countries – and perpetually renewable. Don’t worry about deadlines. Our team manages all the relevant deadlines for you and helps you keeping your portfolio data up to date.
Upon registration, the best way to protect your trademark is to monitor new filings and publications of marks that may be identical or confusingly similar to yours.
Such monitoring will allow you to detect potentially embarrassing subsequent applications and to undertake in due time all the necessary measures for maintaining your trademark’s uniqueness and ensuring its continued value, including administrative procedures such as oppositions, but also negotiations of amicable settlements with third parties and formalization of agreements where appropriate. In case everything went wrong, your trademark has been copied or otherwise infringed, keep calm, our professionals will help you determine the most efficient way to act against the infringer and to have the infringing activity ceased. Convinced? Contact us.