Comments on: Why Your Trademark Registration Might Be Useless – Infographic https://www.womenonbusiness.com/trademark-registration-might-useless/ Business Women Expertise, Tips, Advice and More to Build Winning Careers and Brands Thu, 24 Jul 2014 15:48:15 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 By: Kelley Keller https://www.womenonbusiness.com/trademark-registration-might-useless/#comment-24095 Thu, 24 Jul 2014 15:48:15 +0000 http://www.womenonbusiness.com/?p=52920#comment-24095 Hi Brigitte —

Thank you for your comment. Great example about the word “apple”!

You raise an important point about international protection. Many regions throughout the world treat trademarks differently, so it is extremely helpful to have professional assistance. As you may know, the “Community Trade Mark” (CTM) unified trademark registration system has greatly streamlined trademark protection in the European Union. I know that my clients really appreciate being able to file a single application that covers every EU country. This really reduces legal fees as well since one firm can handle the process. I’ve also found that paying for a professional trademark search before filing a new trademark application — in any country or region — helps to get a “lay of the land” and predict who might try to come after you. Paying a monthly fee for a professional “watch” service to monitor your mark once its filed can pay off as well in case you need to tell others that they are infringing on your rights. But, that said, because we have different types of legal systems (particularly continental Europe and the United States), things can get a little tricky. I am grateful to work with some really excellent European law firms to help take care of my clients doing business there who simplify the trademark process for them and make it much more manageable.

]]> By: Brigitte Kobi https://www.womenonbusiness.com/trademark-registration-might-useless/#comment-24074 Thu, 24 Jul 2014 09:41:46 +0000 http://www.womenonbusiness.com/?p=52920#comment-24074 I did a trademark protection once. Apart from being discriptive (meaning a grocerer cannot apply for the name “Apple” because it is a description for an important product of all other grocerers while there is not problem for a computer; as we know :-))

However, you have to decide if you want to protect the name only for one country, for several or even world-wide. For one country is (at least over here) quite easy and you can check the database for duplicates etc. yourself. But if you decide do go international – and want your name to be registered for the entire European community or even world-wide you need an army of lawyers trying to make sure you do not “disturb” anyone. So this is a real investement. And it is risky during the first 2 years. During this persiod everybody (at least in Europe) who feels you have stolen something from him/her can take legal step and claim the name.

If it comes to patents for new inventions the process is a lot more complicated.

http://brigitte-kobi.com/eblog

]]>