The Importance of Trademark Monitoring In the Digital Age
Building a company and its brand name takes countless efforts and energy. If the brand is violated in any way, they risk losing their goodwill and reputation. As a result, it becomes crucial for companies to register their trademarks in order to protect their brand against infringement. However, submitting the application and obtaining registration is just the start. Every organization needs to be on the lookout for companies that might use their trademark or a mark so similar to it that it would cause confusion or deception. When this happens, trademark monitoring is suggested.
What is ‘Trademark Monitoring’ you ask? In this article, you will get a brief insight into this subject and how to prevent it.
What Is Trademark Monitoring?
The technique of continuously monitoring and analyzing how other businesses are using a registered trademark in commerce is known as trademark monitoring.
It requires keeping a watchful eye on the brand to stop infringement, misuse, dilution, or counterfeiting of the goods or services.
Trademark monitoring is done to protect the brand’s identity, reputation, and consumer trust. Additionally, trademark monitoring aids in promptly spotting any potential dangers so that suitable precautions can be taken to safeguard the brand from any harm.
Effective trademark monitoring to safeguard intellectual property rights requires both proactive and reactive strategies.
What Is The Importance Of Trademark Monitoring?
With more brands entering the physical and online markets, the importance of trademark monitoring has increased.
An essential step in successfully pursuing your trademark rights is the early detection of cases of infringement.
The initial stage of identifying infringing trademarks aids in the development of misuse evidence that is used to prosecute them in court. Furthermore, the threat of potential legal action for trademark infringement serves as a deterrent for dishonest competitors who want to capitalize on the goodwill of your carefully created trademarks.
Trademark monitoring is essential in the contemporary digital world because it has become simpler for infringers to use the brand without being noticed. By keeping an eye on the internet market, you can spot and stop infringement, safeguarding both your trademark and your customers from damage and misunderstanding.
What Are The Benefits Of Trademark Monitoring?
Any company that values its brand and wants to protect it from threats must use trademark monitoring. Some advantages of trademark monitoring include the following:
- Prevention of Infringement
Trademark monitoring searches for infringement in the offline and online worlds and promptly notifies the company of a potential threat. The use of a brand’s exclusive trademarks without the owner’s consent, authorization, or license constitutes trademark infringement. Furthermore, in this day of a globalized economy, trademark infringement is on the rise. With the aid of the most recent techniques and technologies, a trademark monitoring service increases the efficiency of infringement searches. The number of infringement cases is decreased by early detection of violations and the implementation of corrective actions.
Trademark dilution and infringement are terms that are frequently used interchangeably. But there is a slight distinction between the two. While customer misunderstanding is a factor in infringement, dilution can happen even when consumers are fully aware that copying is taking place.
- Early detection of violations
Trademark monitoring, which helps firms swiftly detect any alleged infringing behavior, can enable early infringement identification. This is important because the longer a breach persists, the harder it will be to stop it and the greater harm it might bring to the company.
- Protection Against Knock-Offs
Businesses can find counterfeit products using their brand and stop their sales of them with the aid of trademark monitoring. The difficulty of counterfeiting is getting worse for businesses everywhere.
- Safeguards Brand and Customer Trust
Being noticed by customers in a world full of new and developing businesses is a difficult task. One of the most efficient ways to foster brand loyalty is through careful brand nurturing. Businesses may make sure that their brand is exclusively associated with the goods or services they provide by keeping an eye on the trademark. This helps maintain consumer confidence and brand reputation.
- Prevention Of Trademark Dilution
The distinctiveness of the original mark may be compromised when a third party adopts a mark that is confusingly similar to a well-known brand. The unapproved use of a trademark that lessens the originality of a brand is referred to as trademark dilution. Market dilution can take many different forms if it is not controlled. Trademark surveillance prevents imitation and controls dilution activity. Additionally, it prevents the market from being overrun by cheap imitations of the brand’s goods.
- Keep up with the competition
Additionally, trademark monitoring provides information about your competitors’ global strategies. While keeping an eye on things, one could notice fresh changes that could be crucial in drawing customers’ attention to your brand. A trademark is a valuable asset, so it is important to research how the competition is faring in this area.
- Ensure Damage Control for the Present and Future
In some cases, a trademark may be worthless or at the bottom of the popularity scale. That does not, however, mean that it won’t climb soon. Finding low-lying trademarks with enormous potential is one of the goals of trademark monitoring, and you should adjust your brand strategy accordingly to prevent potential present and future harm.
- Counter against Doctrine of Laches
Typically, a defendant in a legal case will make the doctrine of laches an affirmative defence. The unreasonable delay in pursuing a claim prevents a party from bringing it up. By identifying potentially controversial businesses and trademarks early on through trademark monitoring, a strong argument against the doctrine of laches can be made.
How Does Trademark Monitoring Work?
The act of closely observing how your registered trademark is being used and identifying any potential trademark infringements is known as trademark monitoring. The process of trademark monitoring involves routinely looking for any instances of unlicensed use of your trademark on the internet, social media, or other platforms. The following steps are part of the monitoring process:
- Step 1: The first thing to do is to find the registered trademark that needs to be kept an eye on. This refers to the trademark’s name, emblem, or other distinctive feature.
- Step 2: You must develop a monitoring criterion after selecting the trademark. The trademark that you want to monitor’s keywords, phrases, and variations.
- Step 3: Trademark monitoring involves routinely monitoring online activity on sites like social media, websites, and e-commerce platforms in order to avoid any unauthorized use of the trademark. Either manually or with the use of specialized software, this can be accomplished.
- Step 4: It will be informed and alerted if any infringement behaviors are discovered during the monitoring process. Analyzing the outcomes is crucial in order to determine the seriousness of the violation and the appropriate line of action.
- Step 5: If trademark infringement is discovered, you must take legal action to defend the brand. This can require filing a lawsuit to defend the trademark.
Consequences of Not Monitoring Your Trademark
Despite all of its benefits, you could still be wary of ongoing trademark surveillance. Understanding what occurs if you don’t have a strong trademark monitoring plan is therefore vital. Failure to keep track of the registered trademark can have detrimental consequences for the business. Here are a few to begin with:
1. Loss of Trademark Rights: If your trademark is not regularly monitored, it might be used so frequently in the market that it stops serving as brand identifier. Long-term use of your trademark by third parties could undermine your case and result in the loss of your trademark rights. If the infringer is a rival offering services and goods that are similar to yours, the situation gets even more serious.
2. Reduced Brand Value: A trademark is an intangible asset that has a high market value. Years of careful planning go into developing a brand, and a trademark is a crucial component of the branding strategy. Some of the most well-known brands in the world are worth billions of dollars. Uncontrolled and unauthorized use of a trademark has a negative effect on brand value. Customers are less likely to interact with a brand that does not value uniqueness. In addition to customers, other stakeholders like creditors, suppliers, etc. are hesitant to sign long-term contracts with the company. The organization has a financial loss as a result of diminished brand credibility.
3. Loss of Uniqueness in a Brand: A spectacular product or service is not sufficient in and of itself. One needs to generate the correct amount of buzz around the brand in order to leave a lasting impression on the target market. Because of this, marketers invest a lot of time and money in creating a compelling narrative. It is as crucial to defend your brand with trademark monitoring after you have established one. An attitude of complacency can result in imitators gaining from your success while dissipating the brand’s uniqueness.
How to Monitor Your Trademark?
Since trademark monitoring is a vital organ when it comes to protecting the brand and intellectual property. Here are some ways to monitor the trademark:
- Seek the help of a trademark attorney
- Setting up alerts and implementing social media monitoring
- Utilizing trademark monitoring services
- Conduct regular searches
Conclusion
A vital part of preserving your brand and your rights include keeping track of your registered trademark. Staying vigilant and keeping an eye out for any possible infringements comes part and parcel of protecting your trademark. Any failure to act on time can result in a loss of trademark protection, legal disputes, and damage to the reputation. However, by proactively hiring an attorney or setting up alerts and using trademark monitoring services, the business can effectively protect its registered trademarks. As the trademark is essential to the business, protecting it should be a top priority.
frequently asked questions
By submitting an application under the “Expedited” system, you can hasten the registration of your trademark in India. This option is offered for trademark applications and can lead to quicker processing timeframes. An Applicant after filing the trademark application can file TM-M for expedited registration and fast track the registration process.
Indian Trademark Registry provides free public search portal where anyone can look for the trademark they desire to apply, and find if the trademark is available or is already taken by third party applicant/ proprietor. The search can be conducted for “Starts with”, “Contains” and “Matches with” to have an exhausting list as to determine if the mark is distinctive or is similar to previous marks.
By spotting potential instances of infringement or unauthorized usage, trademark monitoring assists in protecting a company’s valuable intellectual property.
To monitor your trademark you can take the following steps:
- Conduct regular searches
- Hire trademark monitoring services from a Firm.
- Keep a watch on Trademark Journal
- Naseem Sheikh
- May 16, 2023
