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As a general rule, the practice of law is centred on risk and in no field is this possibly more true than in trademark law. In many other fields, the risks of any particular action tend to be at least somewhat predictable. Data can be gathered, analysed, assessed and a prediction as to the likely outcome can be made with some level of confidence….at a minimum enough confidence to definitively advise against taking a particular course of action! While Judges and Courts will always vary, many of the matters at hand are limited to a geographical area or country.

Ode To the Trademark Attorney

When you think about trademarks & branding
And corporate logos galore,
You think of the colours and taglines
Arrayed on the shelves of the store.

The humble screening search is an often overlooked part of the trademark clearance process. At TrademarkNow, we believe in end-to-end process efficiency and so each stage of the journey to successful trademark registration merits attention. As with so many aspects of trademark management, most practitioners have developed a system using a variety of tools and data sources that best suit their needs. While these systems fulfill the requirements of that particular organisation, they are almost inevitably time consuming to use.

Around the world, each country has developed differently. Even between countries that share common ancestors and language, the differences can be astounding. The business globe is split into ‘key regions’ where closer countries are grouped together - such as North America, EMEA, Europe and Asia. As you move from looking at countries to continents, the gap in natural cultural understanding of those markets tends to grow wider.

There is little doubt that intellectual property in general contributes significantly to the bottom line of any company. Creating products and brands that catch the hearts and minds of target consumers and jettison the company into household name status is the dream of many business owners. What many underestimate is the technical difficulty and complexity of that process.

Much of the conversation around artificial intelligence and legal technology has it's sights very firmly focused on the future and rarely touches on the here and now. In our personal lives, AI of one kind (and there are many) or another has quietly arrived without much in the way of fanfare at all. For some people, a combination of the burgeoning Internet of Things and AI will mean that their coffee machine can remind their fridge to order more milk. It has the potential to quietly solve many problems...like finally ending the rows about who put the empty carton back in the fridge.

In much the same way, despite fears of AI replacing employees, AI and machine learning have already arrived in many law firms and legal departments. But do we know how many and to what extent?

I have never conducted an orchestra but I can see that it must be a very skilled and complex matter indeed. It is an excellent analogy for managing a trademark portfolio with a dependence on excellent timing, perfectly synchronised actions and a very quick ear for any discordant notes. Managing a large international portfolio then is as if half of your musicians have dialled in on a conference call from a range of other locations.

As every student of law quickly learns, there is a vast gulf of difference between the theory of law and its application in practice. The Madrid System of filing for international trademark registrations is a prime example. In theory, the Madrid System administered by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) in Geneva offers a simplified and lower cost solution to managing international trademark registrations. There can be little doubt that compared to the previous system which often involved hiring local counsel in every country, many improvements have been achieved with undoubtedly, more to come. However, ‘simplified’ remains a relative term and complications still abound for the unwary!

Time-consuming.

If we had to describe the trademark search and registration process in one word, that would be it.

Like other bureaucratic processes, trademarking involves many hairsplitting steps to approval: Filling out paperwork, waiting on rounds of evaluations, and potentially dealing with cumbersome oppositions. It's enough to make any applicant's head spin.

There was an excellent profile of TrademarkNow and the work we do on the FastCoLabs section of the Fast Company magazine web site, titled How Do I (Really) Know If My Startup Is Infringing On Trademarks?