You have worked for days coming up with a new brand name only to give it to your client and hear back two weeks later from their trademark lawyer. The search shows the name is "blocked" for use. Most lawyers do not have the time, experience, and -- more importantly - the resources to find out if the trademark applications and registrations on a search report are in use, or if there are any plans for use. "NO" is the easy and safe answer.
It requires a lot of experience and time to find out if a registered or applied for mark is actually in use.We confess we have seen the frustration of brand management firsthand as an in-house trademark lawyer - decades at Procter & Gamble, Anheuser-Busch and U.S. Shoe. We tried everything to clear "blocked" names for clients in our corporate time: "market research firms", so-called investigative services, you name it. While we have worked with numerous groups, we never really trusted these folks, their contacts or methods. They were superficial and often WRONG! There is better way.What we can do is what you want - dig deep into
your name - and do it not only with the trademark registration records,
but also by looking at trade publications databases, Internet listings,
and more importantly, we then check it out to see if there really
is such a product or whether someone is simply trying to "bank" a name.
If so, we let you know right away, so we can help you and your
client remove the name from the "vault". If the use or intent to use is
real, we work with you to find a solution, an agreement, a license,
perhaps even a confidential purchase of the desired trademark.
We have practical, in house experience running large corporate
trademark and copyright operations that did the work in house. We have
worked closely with brand managers and buyers, creating and protecting
global brands. We do not just do searches and file applications. We
understand when to do a full search and when a preliminary search makes
sense. We know when it is worth filing a trademark application and when
there is little value added to doing so, and we advise our clients of
the practical benefits and disadvantages in each case before we take
action. We have many years of maintaining global trademark
portfolios in a cost-effective, business manner and working closely
with foreign counsel and agents.
We combine our subject-matter knowledge and our litigation expertise
with our understanding, through experience, of what in house counsel
and their clients really want, so that we can provide our clients with
precisely what they need in analyzing potential litigation issues:
realistic assessment of the strength of their position, and the ability
to vigorously and successfully advocate that position in the best
possible forum to finally resolve the dispute. We work to
understand the business rationale underlying every dispute so that we
can pursue the most appropriate and cost efficient means to secure a
good result for the client.