Once wrongful use of your trademark has been discovered through our Monitoring of Your Trademark or otherwise, it is critical to stop others' infringing use of similar or identical trademarks to yours.
Permitting others' to continue infringing use of similar marks dilutes the strength of your trademark and diminishes your ability to exclude others from using like marks in the marketplace.
Moreover, failure to take action against others' wrongful use of your trademark damages and diminishes the good will associated in your trademark by both allowing confusion among your potential customers as to the sponsorship of the goods or services as well as permitting another party to potentially harm your reputation by passing off inferior goods or services under a trademark similar to yours.
Use our enforcement services to stop all wrongful uses of your trademark.
Typical enforcement of a trademark proceeds in a few steps:
Step 1: Due Diligence: Once infringing use of a mark is discovered Due Diligence is performed to confirm that your trademark was, in fact, used prior to the other's use of the infringing mark.
Step 2: Cease and Desist Letter: Provided that you retain priority of use as confirmed by our Due Diligence, we provide you with an Opinion Letter concerning your rights and those being violated by the other party and issue a Cease and Desist Letter demanding they stop all infringing use of your trademark.
Step 3: Response: At this juncture there are typically three responses we "receive" to a Cease and Desist Letter.
First, the other party simply agrees to stop using your trademark. If this occurs we recommend settling the matter by and through a negotiated Settlement Agreement which memorializes the parties' rights and, specifically, the other party's agreement to never again infringe upon your trademark(s).
Second, the other party does not respond at all. We are therefore forced to submit a Second Cease and Desist Letter or take more drastic action such as filing a Lawsuit in U.S. Federal District Court, instituting a Cancellation Proceeding or Opposition Proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board as appropriate, or initiating a Domain Name Dispute against the party.
Third, the other party, either by hiring a lawyer or by themselves, denies that they are infringing your trademark for whatever reason. As above, we are then forced to either let the wrongful use continue or take action such as filing a Lawsuit in U.S. Federal District Court, instituting a Cancellation Proceeding or Opposition Proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board as appropriate, or initiating a Domain Name Dispute against the party.
Step 4: Additional Action: Lastly, we take what additional action is necessary depending upon the other party's response. As always, we hope that they merely agree to cease use of the mark and that we need only reduce the matter to a negotiated Settlement Agreement. However, if further action is needed to force them to stop their wrongful use of your trademark The Trademark Company's team of seasoned professionals can assist you in stopping their infringement through whatever means necessary.
Many of our customers ask why should they have The Trademark Company perform the initial steps rather than doing it themselves. The answer is simple. Even if well-intentioned, correspondence directly between parties can be used against you in regard to key elements of a case. In the alternative, correspondence from an attorney cannot be used against you as an attorney is merely your representative and not empowered to make such admissions.
Pay-Per-Services Representation (Save 50-75% Off Traditional Litigation Costs):
Our new Pay-Per-Service Representation is revolutionizing the legal industry. Having tried hundreds of cases for our clients we knew we could do it better. We knew we could both significantly reduce the cost of litigation for our clients while providing the same quality of representation as under our retained services programs.
How? Well, that’s a trade secret. We can tell you that it involves years of systemization of processes such that the litigation process becomes a streamlined well-oiled machine with a singular focus: win the case for our client as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
The result? Our Pay-Per-Service Representation reduces the cost of litigation by as much as 50% off our old costs and as much as 75% off traditional law firms’ billing rates.
For the first time small to mid-sized businesses can afford big-firm quality litigation with absolute control over their litigation expenses.
Likewise, big companies can finally break-free of the old-school way of legal billing which have seen unprecedented rises in the billable rates over the past decade without sacrificing the quality of legal services received.
Is it effective? In a word, Yes! It is the same level of representation that we have always provided to our clients only now through our trade secret manners of delivering the representation we are passing along the savings to our clients.
As of right now all work before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board can be performed using this new service. Soon we also expect to be able to add all federal district court litigation to the service as well.
If you are interested in our Pay-Per-Service Representation, we recommend a FREE Consultation on any matter now pending or that you may wish to bring before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Simply Contact Us to have us schedule a time to speak or call (800) 906-8626 to speak with us today!
Standard Enforcement Package ($499):
As an initial level of enforcement, we almost always recommend our flat-fee Standard enforcement Package. It is a cost-effective manner to enforce your trademarks which has proven to be extremely effective. Our Standard Enforcement Package includes:
Conducting Due Diligence to Confirm Your Use of Your Trademark Retains Priority of Use Over the Purported Infringer
Providing an Opinion Letter as to the Other's Infringing Use of the Trademark in Regard to Your Rights
Submission of a Cease and Desist Letter to the Other Party
Monitoring of Deadlines to Cease Use Given to the Other Party
Status Report(s) concerning any Response from the Other Party and their Compliance with or Refusal to Comply with Our Demands
Settlement Agreement Drafting Service ($299):
Provided a resolution is reached, you want to reduce that to writing. This moves a more complex trademark dispute to simple contractual resolution. It is always recommended that a settlement agreement be entered into by the parties as that paper will define the agreed-upon rights thereof. Our Settlement Agreement Drafting Service includes:
Identification of Key Provisions of the Agreement (e.g., Infringing activity to be stopped, dates to be stopped by, transfers of domain names, etc.)
Drafting of initial agreement
Negotiation of terms within the draft agreement
Final execution of agreed-upon Settlement Agreement
Monitoring of compliance with Settlement Agreement
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Package ($149*):
One additional preventative step many of our customers choose is to block the entry of goods bearing an infringing trademark by filing their registered marks with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains an aggressive trademark enforcement program to target, intercept, detain, seize and forfeit shipments of goods which violate your trademark rights. Their enforcement is accomplished through the cooperative efforts of trained enforcement officers, other government agencies, and the trade community to prohibit infringing goods from entering the United States. All that is needed to block the importation of infringing goods is to "record" registered trademarks with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Our U.S. Customs and Border Protection Package includes:
Recording your U.S. Trademark Registration with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to block good bearing infringing trademarks from entering the country
Notice(s) when the blocking of such goods occurs
Monitoring of the status of the duration of enforcement and renewal dates therefore
*Does not include $190 government filing fee.
Should additional services be required, such as filing a Lawsuit in U.S. Federal District Court or filing a Letter of Protest against a pending mark please contact us toll-free at 1-800-906-8626 for a Free Consultation.
