Trademarks

Your trademark captures the essence of your business in a few letters.

A good trademark distils customers’ enjoyment of your products into a name. It crystallises your staff’s pride into a logo. It sums up how you differ from the competition under a single heading.

Trademarks differ from patents in having no end date. Trademarks often outlast entire generations of products. Trademarks facilitate the accumulation of lasting intangible value for your company.

Good trademarks are distinctive and original. If word elements are the main focus, they should at least also be protected as wordmarks. If an applicant has already found simple wordmarks to be inadmissible, an evaluation of the trademark concept is often worthwhile.

Before filing or using a trademark we urgently advise you to have a search carried out for similar older trademarks, to reduce the risk of conflicting with older marks held by others. There is no advantage to be gained from skipping this step. Simply filing a trademark grants the owner of an older trademark, capable of being confused with yours, entitlement to request a cease and desist order. The costs you incur from this are frequently higher than the costs for an appropriate search.

We will be happy to assist you with the concept, registration and enforcement of your trademark rights, and we will show you possible options in trademark strategy, and support you in building up an international portfolio. As with all other aspects of our consulting services, we ensure that costs and benefits balance up appropriately.