A trademark is one of the most essential branding tools available to a business. If you want to stand out from the crowd, selecting a distinctive and instantly recognizable trademark that communicates a business’s ethos and values should be a major priority.
But while selecting a unique trademark is a start, it isn’t enough just to come up with an eye-catching name, slogan or visual image: to guarantee that your trademark is the legal property of your business, you also need to register it with the appropriate regulatory bodies.
If you are in the process of launching a new company or have unregistered trademarks you have already been using for a while that you want to protect, what you need to know about registering a trademark is that it is neither an easy nor a straightforward process. In most jurisdictions, it is incredibly time-consuming and can involve a significant amount of research and communication with the authorities that handle intellectual property.
For this reason, many businesses are choosing to work with trademark lawyers who specialize in trademark applications. Companies like The Trademark Shop have extensive experience helping companies of all sizes navigate the Canadian Intellectual Property Office’s trademark application process.
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In addition to managing the application itself, trademark experts can also help with the required research that goes into preparing a trademark application, including trademark searches and the preparation of comprehensive clearance reports.
Clearance reports are the best way to ensure that your trademark doesn’t accidentally infringe on a registered or common-law trademark already in existence, and a having a lawyer-drafted letter providing a legal opinion summarizing the report and making the case for the validity of your trademark is an important initial step toward registration.
Perhaps most importantly, trademark experts handle the lengthy back-and-forth communications required by the applicant, responding to examiner’s reports, monitoring the advertisement of your trademark in the Trademarks Journal, and filing the declaration of use to finalize the application and complete the trademark registration process. Each of these steps involves careful adherence to the requirements of the Intellectual Property Office and timely and informed responses to the different bodies involved in the registration process.
Given how important registration is and how long the process takes, it is essential that applications be filed correctly. Instead of trying to navigate this process on your own while also managing the day-to-day running of your business, why not hire lawyers who know how to anticipate and deal with any problems that might arise?
If you want to make a strong impression on potential clients, customers and investors, a unique and memorable trademark is the first step toward building a brand that has staying power and marketability. Famous trademarks like those for Dolce & Gabbana, Apple, and WalMart transcend their particular meaning and become icons for an entire way of life, bestowing an incredible amount of value on the products that bear them.
For this reason, businesses that want to see long-term growth should invest in registering their trademarks immediately to discourage imitation and infringement. In doing so, they should work with trademark experts like The Trademark Shop who understand the registration process intimately to get their trademark registered as quickly and easily as possible.
