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Confusion around various elements of trademarks abound. Queries such as  whether you can use a particular mark and whether you need to file an application to register a trademark are common. One area of confusion lies around the TM and R symbols, what they represent and why and when you should use them.

“Humiliation on a grand scale”. “The country in turmoil”. “An economic depression akin to the 1930s”. What a week it has been in British politics. On 11 December 2018, Parliamentarians will have a “meaningful vote” on both the Withdrawal Agreement and the outline for the future relationship between Brexit Britain and the European Union (EU). At the time of writing, it has been predicted Prime Minister, Theresa May’s proposed deal will be rejected, and given that the EU has stated it will not renegotiate, the country will be left with two stark choices – no deal or no Brexit.

Across Intellectual Property Offices (IPOs) globally, different regulations, systems and practices mean that at least a passing familiarity with that region is helpful in terms of successful trademark registration. In the EU, for example, it is a requirement that the representative who files the application to register a trademark has an EU address. That representative does not have to be a trademark attorney although if your application encounters difficulty, one will be required to manage certain issues.

There is a compelling reason why companies seek to protect their brands with trademark registrations - revenue. It takes significant investment in terms of resources to build a successful brand. Leveraging a return on that investment becomes critical.

Trademark professionals are rightly concerned about data quality and its impact on their work product.  Data quality - accuracy, validity, completeness, consistency and timeliness - is an essential part of all major trademark management operations, including brand clearance, brand protection, docketing, licensing, data migration, M&A, and due diligence.  If the trademark data used in these operations contains errors - e.g., missed or delayed official updates, gaps in records or individual data fields, incorrect or outdated owner or renewal date information - then organizations can be exposed to significant costs and risks.  

It is the dream of every marketer to create an irresistible hunger for their brand amongst their consumer base. For their brand to be instantly recognisable and desirable in a veritable sea of brands and consumer options. For their customers to queue all night to be amongst the first to experience new products. And for some marketers, this is no longer a dream. It is a reality.

Amongst those new to the trademark world, a familiar theme emerges. Queries are raised about the basics of trademarks, the necessity of registration and the value (or otherwise) of consulting with a trademark attorney. Client education is a consistent hot topic amongst lawyers in almost every practice area but none are required to ‘prove’ their value to quite the same extent or with such dreary regularity as trademark attorneys.

Sir Terry Pratchett wrote “Those that can do, will have to do for those who can’t and someone has to speak for those who have no voices.” While this is undoubtedly true, it is much more critical wherever possible, to empower the transformation of those who can’t into those who can and support the voiceless into finding a voice of their own.

The trademark world is far from perfect. Like everyone, I’m far from unfamiliar with the notion of imperfection. Our lived experiences are full of inconsistent policies, the impact of legislation with unintended or unforeseen consequences, misunderstandings, miscommunication, mistakes and sometimes outright incompetence or malice.

A principal focus of legal-tech software companies has long been efficiency:  helping lawyers and legal organizations to automate routine tasks, be more productive and eliminate ‘busywork’.  Across different kinds of applications this has meant, for example, standardizing legal forms, digitizing records and making them more accessible and useful, and reducing costs of storing and retrieving various kinds of legal information.