Trademark Monitoring
Protect your registered trademark against imitation
Take timely action against those trying to obtain a similar trademark.
What are the risks of a trademark similar to yours?
- reduces the power of your brand
- damages the reputation of your brand (e.g. by poor quality products sold under an interchangeable mark)
- helps others to take advantage of your brand
- jeopardizes your rights to enforce protection, e.g. when intervening against counterfeiters
Such trademark applications can be defended against, but only if you get aware of them in time.
Several thousands of trademark applications are filed every week within the EU alone. The problem is – nobody monitors whether they pose a risk to your already registered trademarks.
How to defend against registration of a conflicting trademark?
First and foremost, you must take action promptly. In the EU, ideally withing 3 months from the publication of the application.
- Contact the trademark applicant. With the right arguments, you may negotiate a mutual agreement – for example, the deletion of disputed products or services for which the trademark should apply. However, we do not recommend conducting these negotiations on your own. Poor arguments could jeopardize the agreement, leaving you no choice but to engage in a complex proceeding before the authorities.
- Lodge official objections against the conflicting trademark application. Opposition proceedings are complex and have an uncertain outcome. The office will assess the arguments of both parties and then decide – however, the decision-making practice is not always consistent. Therefore, it often pays off to file objections but negotiate with the opposing party instead of engaging in opposition proceedings.
Don’t want to underestimate anything?
Leave it to us
How to monitor whether someone is trying to obtain a similar trademark?
Most patent offices will register newly filed trademark applications regardless of whether similar or identical trademarks already exist. Your only option to prevent this is through active monitoring of newly filed trademarks. In the Czech Republic alone, around 146,000 trademarks are registered annually.
Monitoring involves regular checking of trademark databases and searching for new applications that are similar or interchangeable with your trademark.
We can handle monitoring for you – we’ll tailor the search criteria to promptly identify relevant conflicting applications in the specified territory. In regular intervals, we’ll send them to you, providing you with more time to decide whether and how to address any of the applications.
How often should the monitoring be carried out?
The purpose of monitoring is to detect applications that could endanger yours. And it is easiest to take action against them during the so-called opposition period.
From the filing of the application to its registration, the so-called opposition period runs. Only during this period you can raise objections to the registration of a trademark. If you miss it, the office will register the trademark, making it much more challenging and both time and financially demanding to intervene afterward. Therefore, it is crucial to identify conflicting applications before their registration.
The length of the opposition period varies in different countries. Within the EU, it is 3 months, in the USA only 30 days. You should tailor monitoring to this period – for example, in the EU, it is advisable to conduct monitoring once a month or at least once every 2 months. In the USA, it should be done twice a month
Did you find a conflicting trademark application during monitoring?
Every owner of an older valid trademark can object to new trademark applications that encroach upon theirs. However, they must do so within the so-called opposition period. In the EU, this period usually lasts for 3 months from the publication of the application.
The optimal approach is to officially file objections against the conflicting trademark application and initiate negotiations with the opposing party. With proper argumentation and case law knowledge, you can achieve advantageous agreements and reach your goal. Therefore, it is advisable to turn to experts in trademark disputes for effective resolution.
Don’t want to underestimate anything?
Leave it to usHow much is the monitoring of 1 trademark?
Czech Republic
from CZK 300 / month with annual payment
European Union
from CZK 550 / month with annual payment
Other states
depending on specific states and trademarks
Do you want an overview of potentially conflicting trademark applications?
Leave it up to us.
Send us your trademark and the list of products and services you use it for.
How does our cooperation work?
First – contact us
through the form, via email, by phone, or in a meeting, and we’ll discuss the best approach. Together, we’ll set a monitoring strategy.
Then – cost estimate
Based on the provided information and the chosen territory, we prepare an estimate and send it to you for approval.
Setting the monitoring
We use software tools to monitor trademark applications in the selected territory regularly, so that it identifies almost every variation of the monitored sign (including phonetic, visual and semantic form).
Email overview
We send you an overview of potentially conflicting trademarks on regular basis. We discuss the options for further action for highly conflicting trademarks.
