Trademark Management Tips

Trademark management is an important part of maintaining an intellectual property portfolio. Intellectual property attorneys, specifically trademark attorneys, have expertise in helping clients consolidate their trademark holdings to ensure their clients’ intellectual property is properly protected. Read this article for trademark management tips.

What is Trademark Management?

Proper trademark management is vital to effective brand and image management. An intellectual property portfolio is a collection of intellectual property assets that belong to a business, company, or individual. The assets in an intellectual property portfolio can refer to a wide variety of different types of intellectual property. For example, an intellectual property portfolio may include not only patents, copyrights, and trademarks, but may also include software licenses, distribution agreements, and rights to publicity. Proper trademark management requires that intellectual property attorneys periodically evaluate the trademarks in a portfolio in order to assess whether or not that particular trademark should be maintained. Intellectual property attorneys must determine whether or not the trademark rights are being properly enforced and maximized in order to bring the best value to the trademark owner.

Trademark Portfolios

A trademark portfolio may be comprised of a wide variety of trademarks and service marks that are registered on a number of domestic or foreign registries. A trademark portfolio will also track whether trademark rights have been licensed or assigned to other parties. Co-branding or franchise agreements, as well as any other commercial transactions involving trademark rights, should also be explicitly referred to in trademark portfolios. Trademark portfolios may also include domain names.

How Can an Intellectual Property Attorney Assist You?

Intellectual property attorneys, specifically trademark attorneys, will help you develop strategies in order to help you protect, maintain, and acquire the trademarks relevant to your brand. In order to do so, trademark attorneys will evaluate your brand and growth plan to determine which jurisdictions are important from a marketing or branding perspective. The trademark attorney will then conduct the necessary trademark clearance searches in order to help you determine whether or not you should proceed with the trademark filing or instead pursue a different mark altogether.

Trademark attorneys may also monitor the use of your marks in order to ensure that your trademark rights do not lapse or become vulnerable to cancellation due to non-use. Some jurisdictions have very specific rules as to what constitutes trademark use. As such, trademark attorneys can help you meet each jurisdiction’s definition of use and file affidavits of use as necessary.

Trademark Legal Services

Our trademark attorneys offer comprehensive trademark and brand development services including: 

·       Trademark Management

·       Trade Dress

·       Trademark Opposition & Cancellation Proceedings

·       Trademark Registration & Maintenance

·       Trademark Licensing

·       Trademark Infringement Defense

·       Trademark Protection

·       Right of Publicity

·       Trademark Portfolio Enforcement

·       Cybersquatting

·       UDRP Domain Name Proceedings

·       Trademark Indemnity & Indemnification Agreements

See our Trademark Registration Process for an overview of the trademark process from a search through registration of a trademark.  See also our Trademark Cost & Pricing Options for a discussion of how much a trademark costs and how we bill for our services.

See our Legal FAQs page for the answers to more intellectual property law questions.

Klemchuk PLLC is a leading intellectual property law firm focusing on litigation, anti-counterfeiting, trademarks, patents, and business law. We help clients protect innovation and increase market share through investments in IP.

This article has been provided for informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed to constitute legal advice. Please consult your attorneys in connection with any fact-specific situation under federal law and the applicable state or local laws that may impose additional obligations on you and your company. © 2023 Klemchuk PLLC