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Your business is only as strong as its reputation, and that reputation is built on your business’s trademark—that is, its brand, its logo, or its name. A lot hinges on that trademark. It is, after all, the visible component of your business. But registering your trademark, while it is an important step, is only the beginning when it comes to protecting your business’s name. Trademark enforcement ensures your trademark isn’t being infringed upon so you can be sure your business’s name and reputation aren’t being damaged behind your back. Here’s how you can keep your trademark secure. 1) Trademark Registration There is a bit of protection available for companies and individuals who have unregistered marks, but you really only have rights when it comes to your trademark if you have it registered, so make sure you register your trademark. However, it’s important to consider the scope of your business—and its potential direction of growth—when you register. Trademark protection is territorial, which means that while you may have trademark protection here in the US, your protection may not extend into other countries. It is thus important to ensure you register your trademark in each of the countries in which you’ll need trademark protection. This can get a bit costly, so be sure to keep your budget in mind, and consult a trademark enforcement professional to help you decide where to allocate your trademark registration budget. 2) Use It or Lose It An important step in protecting your trademark is using it. You need to promote it, display it advertise it. Make the ownership of that trademark clear. Not only will this ensure that your trademark registration doesn’t get cancelled for non-use, but it will also strengthen and add value to your trademark. Making your trademark yours is one of the best means of trademark enforcement. 3) Enforce Your Trademark Trademark enforcement is the most important strategy for ensuring the protection of your trademark. Consult a professional company with experience in trademark enforcement for your specific industry. A professional organization can notify you when someone tries to register a similar trademark to your own. They can also help you monitor and take action against trademark infringement, and they can ensure your trademark stays up-to-date so you don’t have to worry about proving your own validity when a trademark infringement case has to go to court. 4) Remember Your Customers When It Comes To Enforcing Your Trademark The more well-known your trademark becomes, the better—not just in terms of the increased business and profit that comes along with it, but also because the more people who have familiarity with your trademark, the more people who can help you enforce that trademark. Your customers and distributors can be your eyes and ears when it comes to trademark enforcement. They can notify you if they see any conflicting trademarks or counterfeit products, and since they can infiltrate the market in a much more discreet and well-numbered way, your success rate in catching trademark infringers can increase as well. Don’t let your business’s products, services, or reputation take a hit due to trademark infringement; invest in trademark enforcement today. Miller Kaplan Arase LLP is a leading CPA firm in the US that offers trademark enforcement services to an array of industries to ensure that these businesses and their ideas are covered to always sustain a competitive edge. For more information on trademark enforcement, visit BusinessInsider.com.
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