Protect Your Mark, Part Two

Yesterday's post was about recording your trademark with Customs, which will prevent the importation of infringing goods. However, you'll want to be sure to take the necessary steps to protect your mark within the U.S. as well.

Straight from the horse's mouth: "You are responsible for enforcing your rights if you receive a registration, because the USPTO does not 'police' the use of marks. While the USPTO attempts to ensure that no other party receives a federal registration for an identical or similar mark for or as applied to related goods/services, the owner of a registration is responsible for bringing any legal action to stop a party from using an infringing mark." 

Ok, so what does this actually mean? Since the USPTO will not police the use of marks it's going to be up to you be your own trademark cop. This means having that comprehensive research done every 2-3 years. Now this is going to be a whole different mind-set from the first time this work was done. Instead of looking to see if your mark is infringing on others you'll now be looking for those that may be infringing upon you. 

The rationale in determining if marks are infringing upon you is going to be the same that was used to decide if your new name might be infringing on others.