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Obtaining a clear idea of how much it will cost to register a trademark in the US (or anywhere for that matter!) is difficult because the answer will always be...it depends. Specifically it depends on how many classes you wish to register across, if it is based on use or intended use, whether you will clear the mark yourself or use the services of a clearance vendor and whether you intend to engage the services of an attorney to manage the clearance and/or filing or use the self-service online options at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Amid all of the complexities of the intellectual property world, it can often be the simplest, smallest detail that causes unexpected issues often years after the fact. Never is this more pertinent than in the ownership of trademarks (or any intellectual property). Above all else, trademarks are a commercial asset mostly granted on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis. The caveat to that being that they must be ‘used’ by the person or entity whose name is on the registration and that person or entity must have the legal capacity to own a commercial asset. In the birth and evolution of a business, challenges with those two elements arise surprisingly often….and all round the world!

One of the surprises in the analysis of the trademark applications of the “Top 200 Law Firms in Europe” is the spectacular growth of applications from China since 2010. There seems to have been a shift in the tide in the Chinese perspective and many new developments that are transforming both the attitude to IP protection within China and accessibility of information to those from outside the region. Perhaps this remodelling of the system has inspired and encouraged more Chinese companies to ‘go global’!

From the outside, the process of a trademark registration is a relatively straightforward one. You create a product. Give it a name. Decide that you need to protect that name. Run some clearance searches. Discover that your name is not quite as original as you thought. Think a bit more about the name. Find one that is protectable. File it using the online services supplied by many Patent & Trademark Offices. Get registered. Renew as appropriate and repeat across as many regions as you require.

In real life, however, as with so many things it is not as simple in practice as it is in theory.

In an increasingly competitive world, trademarks are an exceptionally popular option to maintain your corporate identity in a global marketplace where counterfeits of your product are almost an indicator of the level of your success. But how much popularity is too much?

Some believe that the Irish people were born lucky, but you don’t need luck when it comes to trademarks. You need a thorough strategy, a strong brand name and the help of legal technology.

In this blog we are presenting the Q&A section of our extremely popular webinar ' 3 Keys to the Emperor's Kingdom - Chinese Trademarks Demystified'. The questions have been answered by our two guest speakers: Amy Hsiao, partner at Swanson & Bratschun and Joan Zhang, Senior Counsel at Lenovo US Inc.

There are clear challenges facing counsel in their trademark searching and clearing processes and they tend to be the same pressure points across the board. These pressure points include: not having resources to manage their never-ending list of projects, tight time frames, budgets, quality, and accuracy of data. However; there are many strategies that can be executed such as implementing new technology, leveraging free and commercial services to create a quick responsive strategy, and increasing efforts to collaborate with internal peers.

Nothing at TrademarkNow stands still for long and so it is with our rapidly growing content. Some of the most frequently asked questions from 2017 were publication inquiries and collaboration invitations from experts in our industry from all around the globe. We have expanded our team and are delighted to now open our doors for submissions and collaboration queries!

We recently hosted a webinar along with Elyssa Lefevre Chayo, the Founder and Director of Firm Forward and Randy Michels, Co-Founder of Trust Tree and Trademark Lawyer, where we discussed the US trademark registration process.