What will happen if you are late in Getting your Trademark Renewed?

In most of the nations across the globe, the duration of Trademark Protection for registered trademarks is ten years; however, indefinite trademark protection can be achieved if the registered trademark is renewed once every ten years. Lateness in filing a trademark renewal application can lead to many complications for the owner, like increased fees, penalty, or losing the protection of the Registered Trademark altogether. Remember, loss of trademark protection is the most serious repercussion of failing to file your trademark renewal on time. Let us now make ourselves familiar with all the risks involved in the same scenario so that you can understand the importance of filing your trademark renewals on time.

1.     Someone else may take the registered trademark

Although it is a rare occurrence – however, there may be a scenario where a competitor snaps up the mark and registers it or a similar one as his or her own. Without any second thoughts, the marks, which are identical or similar to the already existing registered trademarks, aren’t registrable. But, if a trademark is no longer registered, then similar or identical marks can get registered. If there aren’t any forms of pre-existing rights interfering with the competitor’s Trademark Registration of the mark, then it shall never get rejected. This scenario, therefore, leaves the bright possibility of you losing your registered trademark to your competitor if you fail to file its renewal.

2.     Trademark re-registration may not be permitted

Trademark protection may also be lost altogether if, after failing to get a trademark renewed and looking to re-register it, a similar or identical mark gets registered in the meantime. According to EUIPO’s set of guidelines and regulations, a proposed trademark will be denied registration if it is identical or similar to an already existing trademark or interferes with the pre-existing rights. If no such problems existed while the mark was registered but arise after the passing of the renewal date, then all the attempts made to re-register it shall be denied.

3.     Limited classes

If in case, a mark similar or identical to yours gets registered in the Nice Classes, in which your mark was originally registered, then re-registration in the same classes shall not be permitted. According to EUIPO’s set of guidelines and requirements, if a proposed trademark seeks registration corresponding to the goods where there is an already existing registered trademark, then the registration shall be denied. Hence, if you miss your renewal date and go ahead with re-registering the mark at some later stage, then the goods or services against which you intend to use the same may be limited.

4.     Limited countries

In the same manner, if you fail to renew a trademark in multiple countries and a new similar or identical mark gets registered in some of the countries in the meantime, then re-registration at some later stage may geographically be limited as well. The consequences of this inability to re-register your mark in some specific nations can be harsh, which, in turn, would hinder your business profits and prospects significantly.

5.     Late trademark renewal fees

Irrespective of whether any of the above mentioned potential issues come into action or not, the owners who delay the renewal of their registered trademarks undoubtedly encounter additional costs in the form of late fees. In general, the national IP offices do give a grace period after the renewal date, in which the renewals can still be filed. However, waiting until that moment shall bring in greater official charges as compared to filing the renewals on time. For view source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/university-of-washington-wins-patent-for-its-innovative-air-filtration-technology/

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How to Monetize Your Trademarks?

No matter whether you have developed a fitness club, industry’s interesting technology, or a global agency, you as a businessman must protect every aspect of your Intellectual Property (IP). Undoubtedly, there are several ways in which you can do so, but the most vital one is registering your business’s or products’ actual name and the logo as trademarks.

Trademark

Trademarks can refer to any number of things, including words, logos, phrases, or slogans that help consumers make a clear distinction amid different companies with related products or services in the market. With this ability to provide a unique identity, a trademark cannot just safeguard the business name and logo from theft and piracy but also benefit the related company with remarkable goodwill and brand reputation.

Hence, when launching your business, it is vital to trademark the name and logo to ensure protection against issues like losses due to Trademark Infringement or confusion that makes consumers buy from your competitors rather than you.

Besides providing the opportunity to preserve your hard work from getting misused by others, Trademark Registration can aid you to make money. A few famous trademarks worth billions. For instance, Google’s trademark values around $44.3 billion, Microsoft’s weighs in at $42.8 billion, and Walmart’s comes in at $36.2 billion.

As billion-dollar values don’t befall overnight, it will be in your best interest to start building an IP portfolio now so that you can upsurge the monetary value of your business by capitalizing on your trademarks.

Steps You Should Take to Ensure Your Trademark has Value

Get Creative

Before filing Application for Trademark Registration in India or any country you want, ensure that the slogan, name, or logo is memorable and distinctive. Besides, it should be your creation, i.e., not copied from anywhere, and must not be confused with any other company or brand.

Almost all successful brands use marks made up of words and images that not just portray their business but also describe their products and services in new and unusual manners.

Focus on Slogan

A remarkable way to enhance your trademark portfolio and make more value is to have an amazingly marketable slogan based on the current trend and industry. Consider the case of boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer, who has made not less than $400 million with his trademarked phrase ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.’ This appears as a great example when it comes to monetizing a trademark.

Make it Legal

To enjoy the comprehensive benefits, you need to complete the Trademark Registration Process of your mark successfully. In this process, you, first of all, should apply for it with the associated department, like the trademark registry in India and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the United States.

Once the relevant department or Office finds that the Trademark Application has met all the filing requirements, it’d assign a serial number to the application and then send the same to an examining attorney. If the attorney decides that there are problems in allowing the registration of your mark, he/she will issue a notice, which explains their arguments against registering your trademark and outlines the changes needed in the application. You, as an applicant, should respond to the notice as soon as possible.

As the complete Trademark Registration Process in India or any nation seems time-taking and tricky, working with an experienced Trademark Attorney can be the best for you. Being skilled and aware of legal rights, matters, etc., he/she can help you in streamlining the process, along with overcoming the challenges that may prevent successful application or registration of your mark.

1.     Analyze Your Options

Once the creative name, slogan, or logo with which you came up is registered, you are ready to monetize your trademark. Here’re some options you should analyze:

• License Your Trademark: Trademark Licensing is a fairly common practice to capitalize on any registered mark. Licensing your trademark to another company or person means that you are allowing the same to use it for particular products and services in exchange for the expected fees. Think of celebrities or sports teams who allow others to use their names, images, etc., on things like beauty products, soft drinks, restaurants, and more.
• Co-branding with Another Company: It allows both parties to take advantage of each other’s goodwill and brand reputation. It is a good way to attract more consumers and enhance your sales. Apple and Nike working together on goods for athletes, Bonne Belle and Dr. Pepper collaborating on a flavored lip gloss, are the two well-known examples of this type of joint venture.
• Making Money through the Securitization of Your Trademark: It is the concept that enables the companies to use the value of their trademarks to generate financing.

Monetizing your trademarks can bestow you with substantial new revenue streams. However, to grab the full advantage of the opportunity, you should not miss out on any single way to secure your valuable assets under the robust shield of Trademark Protection.

An experienced Intellectual Property Law Firm is one of the best sources to get any kind of help you need in this area. It can help you in successful registration as well as licensing of your trademark.

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Intellectual Property Protection For Your Mobile Apps

In today’s rapidly transforming digital world, mobile apps are continuously evolving. While being a friend that carries almost every work related to our day to day life, mobile apps are something that has made us go ‘on-the-fly.’  Be it emailing, transferring money, or shopping online, mobile applications appear as one of the best ways of performing our daily basis tasks at the fastest possible speed. Moreover, developing mobile apps that attract noteworthy users involves minimal investment, sometimes limiting to as low as a few thousands. These are the reasons why businesses in large numbers are getting involved in developing mobile apps, and thus making the market more competitive than ever before. Undoubtedly, most of the developers keep the competition fair by coming up with their unique apps, but some never hesitate to make profits by copying the already existing ones. Hence, it is worth protecting your mobile apps against replication in the present marketplace where the cost of development might be low, but protection demands more than the complete creation. Let’s make ourselves familiar with some Intellectual Property (IP) tools using which you can prevent duplication of your mobile apps.

Patents

‘Whether mobile applications are patentable or not,’ has been a long due question for the past many years. Well, mobile applications are software interacting with various servers while running on hardware, and when it comes to examining Patent Applications related to mobile apps, every country has different criteria. Hence, we can conclude that there is no straight solution to whether you can get Patent Protection for your mobile application in a particular nation or not. For a precise and comprehensive answer, you should get in touch with an experienced Patent Attorney.

Nonetheless, in general, the technological ecosystem of mobile apps is a subject matter for patentability. For instance, a virtual keyboard, when introduced in mobile phones, for the first time was a patentable subject matter. Several front end elements in mobile applications can be patentable for their novelty, inventiveness, etc. Besides, the ways the mobile apps communicate with a server or other mobile devices may again list under a subject matter of patentability.

Trademarks

Every mobile application works in a step-by-step process. For instance, each mobile app first reaches the online platform, then gets downloaded by users on their devices, and then continuously used by the users. Be it during online promotions, downloading, or after downloading, the name and logo of the mobile application stay the crucial assets as these are what make the customers identify a particular app. Therefore, securing the name and logo as a Registered Trademark becomes remarkably significant. Trademark Registration will not only prevent others from infringing on your name or logo but also establish goodwill that would captivate the users to download and use your app. That’s why it is advisable to identify your app usage and marketing pattern, and thus, obtain specific Trademark Protection.

Copyright

Another form of protection for mobile apps is copyright. Since copyright allows protection of the original work of authorship for literary and creative works, it is beneficial for securing computing codes and presentation of your mobile apps during its workflow on different screens. Other features of mobile applications that can be considered artistic, and therefore, secured under Copyright Protection include images, videos, sound, etc.

In general, copyright comes into effect as soon as you create something new and unique, and there’s no necessity for copyright registration. However, filing a copyright application for protecting copyrightable aspects of your mobile app would be essential as it will help you in cases like Copyright Infringement. Copyright Registration proves to be an efficient tool for the original owner at the time he/she stands in front of the court. If you don’t bother to register your mobile application at the earliest, there are possibilities that you may lose your earnings and business in the hands of others.

Whether to file one combined application for multiple subject matters, including user interface, layouts, images, etc., or separate copyright for each is a noteworthy decision, and can vary from case to case as well as Copyright Law of different nations. Hence, you must always proceed under the supervision of IP experts.

Bottom Line

Mobile applications are a part of fast-moving technology that continuously changes and comes up with new aspects. Due to this, mobile apps that often appear just a part of businesses, at times, become the entire business itself. Ola, a cab service providing app and WhatsApp, an instant messaging app are the most common examples where the mobile application has turned into the whole business. That’s why you should always devise an appropriate Intellectual Property Protection strategy that lets you extract maximum profits from your mobile application without worrying about infringers. For view source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/intellectual-property-protection-for-your-mobile-apps/

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How to Choose a Mark that Discourages Trademark Infringement?

Is your newly launched product doing well? Do the potential buyers are showing interest in it? Congratulations, as creating a product that attracts the consumers towards your brand while leaving the competitors behind is a big deal. Undoubtedly, products of this kind can serve you with remarkable profits in the form of more customers, better sales, etc., but sometimes, they may become a matter of concern for you. How? Your competitors or others may commence making profits on your name by creating confusion that misleads consumers to purchase their products instead of yours. They can do this by using a name, symbol, or product similar to yours without your consent. Therefore, you should always be cautious about securing your unique product or service under the robust Intellectual Property Protection.

When it comes to the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) like unique products or services, trademark rights appear as one of the most vital sources that can keep the infringers at bay. In general, there are five sorts of trademarks that the owner can use to safeguard his/ her assets. Let’s have a look at all these marks and choose the most appropriate one that provides robust Trademark Protection to your asset.

Five Strongest Trademarks to Keep Infringers at Bay

1.     Fanciful Marks

Fanciful marks are made-up words and have no meaning other than appearing as a trademark for the owner’s particular goods or services. These marks never tell anything about the products but are memorable as they enable the consumers to identify and remember your product/ mark, no matter how many competitors you have. Fanciful marks ensure the most stimulating Trademark Protection and can be enforced against the use of the same or a similar mark on others’ assets and services. Some examples of fanciful marks are as follows:

·         VERIZON telecommunication services

·         GOOGLE computer search engine

·         ROLEX watches

2.     Arbitrary Marks

These are those marks that consist of a word, symbol, image, etc., used for entirely different and unrelated products or services. Like fanciful marks, arbitrary marks also have nothing to do with the products or services, but stand out as more memorable when it comes to the same type of assets. That is why people prefer to Register a Trademark of this kind. Arbitrary marks assuredly give exceptional protection but in general, don’t possess as good scope of enforceability as fanciful marks. For instance, the word APPLE might not be enforceable against one using the term APPLE CAFÉ. Nevertheless, if he substitutes the Apple Logo for the word APPLE, then the logo would be enforceable against him. A few other examples of such kind include:

·         BANANA REPUBLIC clothes

·         GEICO insurance services

·         HARD ROCK restaurants

3.     Suggestive Marks

Suggestive marks are something that gives a hint about the product and services. These marks tell what a particular product is and what it does, but without going deep to describe it. As suggestive marks are just one step away from descriptive trademarks, they are enforceable only in regards to the same or similar mark on the same or similar product. According to the Trademark Law, these marks exist as words or a combination of words or equivalent graphic logos. Examples of suggestive marks are:

·         FRESH ‘N CLEAN pet shampoo

·         CITIBANK financial services

·         7-11 convenience stores

4.     Descriptive Marks

A mark that describes the quality or function or aspects of the specific product or service, and explains; what it is or what it does is called a descriptive mark. As this mark is descriptive and has no proprietary rights, it is generally not protectable and not enforceable. If your asset obtains the trademark protection under descriptive marks, anyone in the industry can use the mark wholly or partially, either as the name of his product or a term in the text. Trademarks registered as descriptive include:

·         PARK ‘N FLY airport parking service

·         COMPUTERLAND computer stores

·         RAISIN BRAN cereal

5.     Generic Marks

A mark or name that due to its significance or popularity has become the generic name for a general class of product or service, often against the intentions of the trademark’s holder is known as a generic trademark or genericized trademark. In other words, when a mark turns so common that it just signifies the type of product, it is deemed as generic and can no longer be secured as a Registered Trademark. Generic marks aren’t trademarks; they are nouns modified by registered trademarks, for example:

·         APPLE computers

·         GEICO insurance services

·         STARBUCKS coffee

Strong marks give you powerful ownership rights, trademark protection, and are easier to enforce. The stronger is the mark, the more are the possibilities that it will be enforceable against others and thus, prevents or stops issues like Trademark Infringement. Such marks are not just less vulnerable to problems during the Trademark Registration Process and filing a Trademark Application but also enforceable against a user of the same or similar mark for the same or similar or relevant products and services. So, whenever you come up with a new product, don’t miss out to secure it with a strong trademark as you have invested a lot of your valuable money, time, and resources on its designing, development, and more. For view source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-mark-that-discourages-trademark-infringement/

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GNOME Foundation to Battle a Patent Troll in Court

The GNOME Foundation, a maker of the eponymous Linux desktops, has been hit with a sueball by Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC over how its Shotwell photo manager manages photos.

The plaintiff has alleged in a complaint filed at the United States District Court Northern California that the defendant has infringed its patent for a “Wireless Image Distribution System and Method.”

The Patent Application, 9,936,086, filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on 2 June 2017, is dated 3 April 2018. And in a nutshell, it is related to flinging digital photos from one device to another wirelessly.

The GNOME Foundation is not the only firm being sued by the plaintiff; instead, there are many other companies. As per the Patent Litigation Website RPX Insight, there are six active and forty-two inactive cases involving Rothschild Patent Imaging. For instance, Rothschild has also sued Magix in a complaint associated with the same patent. In Magix’s case, it is the firm’s photo manager who has grabbed the attention of the plaintiff’s Patent Attorney.

Unlike Magix, the GNOME Foundation is a non-profit outfit. Neil McGovern, Executive Director for the GNOME Foundation, said that the suit is baseless, and they would vigorously defend against it. He added that due to the ongoing litigation, they, unfortunately, cannot make any further comments at this time.

While Neil, cannot speak more about this issue, we can imagine the lively shade of blue the air is running within GNOME towers.

The patent itself is the broad beast, emphasizing hardware and software and, importantly in the case of GNOME or Shotwell a method that involves capturing images, filtering them based on a theme, topic or individual, and then transmitting the filtered ones to another device wirelessly. Since the patent deals with wireless image distribution, it appears to be ridiculous because it means any software that transfers images from one device to another could be violating this patent.

Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC is owned by Leigh Rothschild whose modus operandi is to obtain patents on general ideas, which would be so broad that they could sue an enormous number of organizations. Defendants have only two choices, either pay Rothschild to settle the dispute or pay IP Lawyers to fight the court battle.

Apart from Magix and GNOME, Cyberlink’s FaceMe has also been on the receiving end of a complaint revolving around the pesky patent 9,936,086. Because the plaintiff was demanding $75,000 from each defendant for settling the lawsuits, it seems as if it is formed to make profits by suing other firms.

Unfortunately, patent trolling that enables an individual or company to enforce its patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent’s actual value or contribution to the prior art, usually through hardball legal tactics is the big business in many countries. There are many firms with the sole business model of gaining monetary benefits by using other companies. Well, this becomes possible because of the law that favors such patent trolls and defendants who pay the plaintiff to settle to the dispute. Nevertheless, this time, the GNOME Foundation has decided to fight the present lawsuit vigorously. If the Foundation wins, it would be an excellent example that prevents companies like Rothschild from making profits with the help of patent trolls in the future. For view source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/gnome-foundation-to-battle-a-patent-troll-in-court/

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