Early warning system – what is a trade mark watch service?

It is important to keep a watch on third parties to ensure that they are not adopting an identical or similar brand which conflicts with your rights and causes customer confusion. There are many watch services in place, but the most common is a trade mark watch service which will, depending on the scope of the watch, flag up any conflicting marks shortly after they are filed anywhere in the world.

This early warning system is critical for trade mark owners as it gives them an opportunity to resolve any disputes early on, avoiding protracted cases where the third party has started to use the mark and committed to the brand. If the third party becomes attached to the conflicting mark and is using it, it is often far more difficult to resolve the case than if the third party is approached early in the process after the initial watch notice alert.

A trade mark watch service provides daily alerts on new conflicting trade mark applications which we review and report on. The cost of the search is relatively inexpensive, and we provide a report in a user-friendly format.

The key benefits of a trade mark watch service are:

• Allows you to be proactive and respond quickly to any potential infringements of your trade marks;
• Allows you to discover potential competitors or threats to your business;
• Enables you to challenge any potentially conflicting trade mark applications, negotiate with the third party to convince them to abandon the application or make important changes to nullify the threat; and
• Reduces the risk of costly and lengthy protracted proceedings before trade mark registries or the courts, as the third party is more likely to resolve the dispute if the threat is identified early.

At Ionic Legal, we can recommend appropriate trade mark watch services for your business needs in the UK, EU and around the world. We will assist you in being notified early on of potential risks to your business and brands.

Our team of IP specialists is very experienced in reviewing the daily alerts received and providing you with commercially minded legal advice and guidance concerning any potential conflicting trade mark applications, allowing you to take action at the earliest stages and prevent the potential costs and delay of proceedings before trade mark registries or courts. This can also assist in identifying potential threats and competitors to your business and nullifying them before they invest heavily in, market and launch those brands which you consider are too close to yours.