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Outside of the branding processes undertaken by trademark professionals, there exists a fundamental fallacy - everyone seems to think that they understand trademarks. From startups choosing to go it alone with their applications to others decrying the need for trademarks at all, confidence in innate knowledge and simplicity is at an all-time high. 

Social media, whether you view it as friend or foe, invades every part of our lives and brands were quick to become part of that narrative. This creates a number of challenges for the companies involved. Standing out amongst all the noise being a case in point.

However, this is far from being the only challenge associated with the use of social media by brands of all sizes. Joe Quigley of Rivet LLC shares some insights:

Although the tradition of bearing Christmas gifts is as old as the Christianity itself, Christmas celebration traditions with a Christmas tree are traced back to the 16th century Germany, with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularizing it in the UK and the US closer to the end of the 19th century.

One of the most frequently asked questions by those newer to the trademark world is “How long will it take to get my trademark registered?” Frustratingly, as with so very many things in the legal world, the real answer is “It depends”. There are genuine reasons why this should be so. Innumerable factors can impact your application to register a trademark and no promises can be made as to the time that your specific application will take. However, there are some indications that you can use to create a general guideline of what you might expect in Canada.

“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.

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.  

The trademark application process can be a long one - and certainly much longer than people applying for the first time (or the first time in a new region) might realise. There are some common factors that will impact your time frame to successful registration and an examination of these might help you to identify areas where you can speed up the process....although the average time will be largely dictated by the region in which you are applying. There are some common factors that will impact your time frame to successful registration and an examination of these might help you to identify areas where you can speed up the process!

Of all the perennially hot topics in the trademark world, somewhat understandably, trademark infringement tops the list. That, after all, is the working end of the business and consumes the most time and energy of any trademark professional. Much of the time is dedicated to avoiding infringement or finding infringement. And having found it, rather more crucially, proving it.

Everywhere you go people are talking about going green and how it impacts the environment. From chemicals to plastic bags, people are trying to come up with new and innovative ways to make our planet more environmentally sustainable.  

We recently hosted a webinar with Richard Tromans, Founder of Tromans Consulting, which advises lawyers on the adoption of Legal AI. We explored the relationship between machine and lawyers and what that burgeoning relationship might mean for us all.