Trademark Watching Service
In most jurisdictions, when a new trademark application is accepted for registration, it is published for opposition purposes. A “watching service” refers to a regular search through all the latest published trademark applications. The watching service looks for marks (visually or phonetically) that are the same or similar to your registered trademark and are being used for the same or similar goods/services company. If it is found that a similar mark to your own is being used, an alert is sent out to you in a form of a report. With MARKS IP Law Firm, we can extend this service by monitoring any similar new company names and domain names of your choice, and alerting you accordingly. Our watching service provides you with the opportunity to take action against competing trademarks well before they are registered. Filing a successful opposition against a new trademark application will prevent it from reaching registration. Since there are strict deadlines to file an opposition following publication, you need to be alerted as soon as possible. Besides, the language gap between Japanese and your language occasionally causes an unexpected result to register third-party trademark pronouncing similar to your trademark. If you fail to monitor it and do not oppose it in a timely manner, it will lead to a weakening of your trademarks, loss of distinctiveness over time.
We charge a fixed annual fee per trademark watched, no matter how many reports you receive during that year. We offer a number of specially tailored worldwide watching services and packages if you wish to cover multiple jurisdictions.
Trademark Surveillance Service
A “surveillance service” refers to the investigation of infringer’s local activity pertinent to trademarks. In other words, we monitor how the infringer is using, selling, or distributing your trademark in the field, regardless of having been registered or not. It allows you to perform a continuous follow-up of any infringements that may be taking place against it and makes it easier to define a strategy and legal measures to respond to situations of counterfeit, imitation, or illegal use of trademarks. Our service can also be useful in order to find out whether a trademark that you intend to register is already being used in the market and in the eventuality that you intend to argue the cancellation of trademark registration, due to non-use.