Keeping Your Brand Protected: Tips for Trade Mark Renewal and Maintenance

The business world continues to grow every day. If you own a business, one of the things you should do is to keep your brand’s reputation, especially if you own a trade mark. Trade marks play a vital role in a business. If you have an idea or a tagline you want to keep on using, registering for a trade mark is a great option to make sure you stay in the competition.

However, maintaining and renewing a trade mark can be tricky, so make sure to hire trade mark lawyers. If the lawyer who helped you register the first time didn’t work out, you can always find another one who can look out for you and your business.

In this article, we’ll discuss some tips on how to renew and maintain your trade mark and its benefits.

Renewing a Trade Mark

Having a trade mark isn’t a one-time deal. It requires constant renewal due to its limited protection. Usually, the longevity of having a trade mark depends on your country or state, so make sure to check and remind yourself about it.

For instance, if your law requires you to renew your trade mark every ten years, you should do it if you don’t want to lose legal protection against intellectual property thieves. In case you need a backup, you can also get business insurance.

Maintaining a Trade Mark

In maintaining a trade mark, you should go beyond the renewal. It should involve constant monitoring, paying taxes, and affidavit of use. If you have a good record on all of these, and you find someone using your trade mark, you can instantly win the case.

1. Continuous Monitoring

As mentioned, it’s not good enough to renew your trade mark. If you want to stay along with your competitors, constant monitoring is a good thing to start. Usually, trade mark lawyers have access to the reliable trade mark search. So if you hire a lawyer, they should be doing the proper cheque of whether someone is trying to register your existing trade mark or not.

An unauthorised use of your trade mark may damage your brand’s reputation, so it’s best to know whether another business is using it or not.

2. Policing and Enforcement

Once your trade mark has been renewed and your lawyer has seen someone using it, you should take legal action as soon as possible. You can start by sending a cease-and-desist letter, and see if you can handle things within two parties.

Unfortunately, if not, you’re going to have to pursue the legal action in court. This is one of the reasons why you should hire an experienced trade mark lawyer. If the lawyer is not experienced enough, things might still get a bit more complicated than expected.

3. Trade Mark Use

Although the first essential step is to renew your trade mark, one of the things you should do to maintain it is to use it. Whenever you create or promote a new product or service, don’t forget to incorporate your trade mark because if you use it inconsistently or if you don’t use it at all, there’s a chance of trade mark cancellation.

Meanwhile, when using the trade mark, make sure to use it correctly. If you use it as a general term, people might use it that way and you might lose your trade mark in the long run. Some of the non-general terms that used to be trademarked are Escalator and Xerox.

4. Record Keeping

Do you want to run things as smoothly as possible? Keep every trademark-related document in safe and accessible storage. This will help you whenever you encounter intellectual property thieves or copyright infringement.

On the other hand, if someone accuses you of stealing their ideas, you can present proof of registration, renewal, and trade mark use.

5. Trademark Registration in Other Jurisdictions

Consider trademark registration in other countries if your business expands internationally. This helps protect your brand in foreign markets.

Benefits of Trade Mark Renewal and Maintenance

Now that you’re aware of the things to do to renew and maintain your trade mark, here are some benefits you can get from them as a business owner.

1. Ongoing Protection

Protecting your trade mark is a great opportunity to protect your brand from possible theft. If it’s legally protected, your clients and partners can trust that you’re doing the right thing for your business.

2. Preserving Brand Value

If the consumers know that your brand has a trade mark, you can easily maintain your branding. Besides, if you have an established brand, you can have a higher chance of staying in the field as long as possible.

3. Competitive Advantage

If your competitors can’t imitate your trade mark and the consumers love it, you can use it as one of your advantages to stay ahead of the game. So make sure to include it in your social media posts, advertisements, and other marketing tactics.

Final Thoughts

Having a trade mark is one of the things you should do to maintain the reputation of your business. If you don’t own anything, your competitors can easily take away your ideas and designs, and make better use of them. So if you’re planning to expand in the future or thrive during your first few years, maintain and renew your trade mark.