Trademark Monitoring with Recht 24/7

Trademark Monitoring – the most Important Things in Brief

Trademark Watching by Service Providers

The German Patent Office advises: A trademark without watch makes no sense. Trademark monitoring is an important part of trademark protection and should be set up professionally after the trademark has been registered.

An attorney-at-law can provide trademark watch services by conducting identity searches in the registers of the DPMA, EUIPO and WIPO to identify trademarks that may be similar or identical to your own trademark. This allows you to file an opposition against these marks if necessary. However, availability searches have limited validity and do not provide complete protection against trademark dilution.

For this reason, ongoing trademark monitoring by an lawyer for identical and confusingly similar trademarks and business names is essential for effective protection. Fortunately, trademark watching doesn’t have to be expensive.

Get your trademark watched: How to protect your brand from imitators

A trademark represents the quality and image of your products or services. It builds recognition and trust. Reliable brand monitoring is important to protect it from being abused by competitors. Only then can you react promptly to trademark infringements. With us as your competent partner, you will also save time and money.

Brand infringements: Play it safe with trademark monitoring

As a trademark owner, you have the sole right to use and exploit your trademark. This means that only you can use it to advertise and sell branded products. Third parties are not allowed to use your trademark commercially. If it is used illegally by competitors, it is considered trademark infringement. Typical examples are

A competitor offers services or products under a similar/identical name. A third party uses your brand recognition to market their own products under a similar brand. A competitor uses a trademarked design (such as a logo) on packaging or in advertising.

The problem: How do you find out about such infringements? Trademark monitoring is the right tool for the job. It allows us to detect when third parties are abusing the rights to your protected trademark. As a rule, you are then entitled to an injunction. You assert this by means of a cease-and-desist letter. With a cease and desist letter, the infringing party agrees to immediately stop the trademark infringement and not to repeat it. You may be entitled to damages. The amount depends on

• the infringer’s profit
• your lost profit
• the resulting license damage

Trademark monitoring also makes sense because trademark infringement is punishable by law. The law punishes infringements with a fine or a prison sentence of up to 3 years. If the trademark infringement is committed commercially, there is even a risk of imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Basically, the following applies: As a trademark owner, you must take immediate action against trademark infringement to protect the value of your trademark and the reputation of your business. You can do this by hiring an experienced partner like Recht 24/7 to watch your trademark.

Trademark watch: how does it work?

You can only pursue trademark infringements if you discover them. The problem is that trademark offices do not check whether newly added trademarks infringe already registered trademarks. Theoretically, a third party could register an identical trademark without you knowing.

This is why reliable trademark monitoring is essential. According to § 42 MarkenG, an opposition can only be filed within 3 months after publication of the trademark registration. If you miss this deadline, the third party’s trademark can only be removed by an action for cancellation.

With Recht 24/7 Trademark Watch you get comprehensive protection for your trademark. We check all relevant registers and databases for new registrations on a weekly basis. These include

• DPMA: German Patent and Trademark Office
• EUIPO: European Union Intellectual Property Office
• USPTO: United States Patent and Trademark Office
• WIPO (Madrid – The International Trademark System): World Intellectual Property Organization

If a counterfeiter has registered a similar or identical mark, we will send you a report. We will recommend whether and how you can take action against the trademark infringement.

Why should I conduct a trademark watch?

A trademark is only a trademark if it is sufficiently distinctive. It not only serves to differentiate you from competitors, but also informs consumers about the origin and expected quality of a product.

If the distinction from other brands is no longer clear, there is a risk of loss of distinctiveness – known as brand dilution.

Customers can no longer clearly distinguish your brand from the competition. It is also no longer possible to identify a specific product with your brand. The consequence: The imitator’s quality shortcomings could be falsely attributed to your company. You risk losing customers, suppliers, and investors. Your brand and reputation are at risk.

As a brand owner, you can only ensure the uniqueness of your brand if you intervene in time. Our trademark watch protects your interests – at a fair fixed price! We will inform you immediately about similar or identical new registrations and, if you wish, file an opposition in time.

Trademark watch by specialized attorneys – time is money!

Trademark watching is an important part of protecting a trademark once it has been registered.

What many applicants forget is that when a competitor files a conflicting trademark, there is only a short period of time to file an official opposition to the registration of the later mark. Professional trademark monitoring can help companies stay ahead of this deadline and ensure that their rights are protected. It also helps them identify potential infringements of their trademarks and take swift action if necessary. With professional trademark monitoring, companies can be confident that their trademarks are protected from counterfeiters and competitors alike.

Tight window to report trademark infringement

Watching trademarks is an important part of protecting corporate identities and ideas. When a competitor files a very similar trademark in the same classes, it is important to act quickly. The trademark owner has three months to file an opposition. After this period, the legal trademark protection becomes fully effective and the third party’s trademark can only be removed through a cancellation action.

It is therefore important to remain vigilant and to regularly use a trademark watch to check for new applications that may infringe your own trademarks.

Filing an Opposition

Filing an opposition is a common way to protect a trademark from infringement. If another party attempts to register a similar mark, the original owner may file an opposition with the Trademark Office. The opposition must show that there is a likelihood of confusion between the two marks due to their lack of distinctiveness. If the Trademark Office agrees, the foreign trademark will be cancelled from the register.

The cost of filing an opposition varies from office to office. The German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) charges a fee of €250 for the first application and €50 for each additional trademark opposed. For oppositions against conflicting EU trademarks at the EUIPO, the fee is 330 Euro per trademark. It is important to note that these fees are not refundable even if the opposition is unsuccessful.

Interlocutory injunction

An interim injunction is a court order requiring a party to take or refrain from taking certain actions pending the resolution of the dispute. In trademark infringement cases, a preliminary injunction can be used to prevent further damage to the trademark owner’s rights and reputation. To obtain an injunction, the trademark owner must show that there is an urgent need for immediate relief and that its claims are likely to succeed.

In deciding whether or not to grant an injunction, the court will consider several factors, such as B. the likelihood of success on the merits, the irreparable harm that may result if the injunction is not granted, and the potential harm that may result from the issuance of the injunction. In addition, courts may consider whether other less intrusive remedies are available. If all of the criteria are met, the court will issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction pending trial.