What are the Post Trademark Registration Compliances a Brand Must Do?

Procuring a registered brand name or Trademark is the most significant achievement because Trademark Registration is not easy. It illustrates the end of a long and sometimes hard application process. But as satisfying as it is, Trademark registration is just one achievement in your ongoing quest to safeguard your Trademark and your brand name. After getting the registered Trademark, the brand should protect and maintain its mark and do certain post Trademark registration compliances to safeguard the mark. Sometimes brands get misguided that the Trademark Office safeguards the Trademark; however, this detail is not true; when the Trademark is registered under the Act, it becomes the responsibility of owners to safeguard and protect their rights. Scroll down to check the post Trademark registration compliances.

Post Trademark Registration Compliances to be Satisfied by a Brand

1. Remember the Dates of Trademark Renewal: One of the post Trademark Registration compliances ensures timely renewal filings. The first Trademark renewal for succeeding Trademark registration will be five years from the original date of registration. The 2nd renewal is scheduled to take place 10 years from the original date of registration and every ten years after that. The due date of each Trademark renewal is followed by a window lasting six months in which the filing might be made; once the window closed but, the Trademark will fall into a grace period and risk desertion.

Maintaining the renewal schedule is the duty of a Trademark owner and necessary for Trademark protection for the registration. On every filing of Trademark renewal, the owner of a Trademark should prove the use of the mark in the marketplace of all the products and services delivered in the classes of the Trademark and submit a fee for each Trademark class.

If the owner of a Trademark didn’t prove the use of the Trademark in the marketplace can result in registration loss. Engaging the support of a Trademark lawyer is the most efficient way to guarantee that the Trademark owner will miss no date of Trademark renewal. The Trademark has considerable use in the market place, and the filings of renewal are properly prepared.

2. Spread out Trademark Coverage When Needed: Previously, you register a Trademark; the better it is to protect your business goodwill. Following are some examples that you require to do:

• File for an extra Trademark covering every new Trademark class of goods and services (expansion into a new industry);
• Update your specimen to demonstrate the use of your mark (New labelling or packaging);
• Update your Trademark specimen to demonstrate how it now identifies your firm or company (new branding or logos).
• Observe New Trademark Filings: Trademark supervising services is to keep eyes on various marks that have been published online in the Trademark Journal so that the same marks can find out and respective owners can be informed regarding the same. However, the Trademark owner will be notified when a Trademark Journal is published within 15 days.

The online journal also delivers an occasion for the owner of different marks to get any typographical error removed before the Trademark Registration. Such services protect your Trademarks from infringement by finding recent files or published Trademarks that are confusingly similar to your Trademark. It is compulsory to do post Trademark Registration compliance by the Trademark owner to protect its brand name from duplicity.

3. Brand Name Should Use (R) Symbol Instead of (TM) Symbol: Once your Trademark is successfully registered, you are excluded from using the TM symbol^[1] and switched to the R symbol. While the earlier mentioned Trademark shows a claim on the Trademark, R signifies an owner’s possession and gives legal protection to the brand.

It is a license to use the R symbol with your registered Trademark and is entirely reserved for Trademarks that have been registered. Using the R symbol with your Trademark that doesn’t have a registration is an infringement of the law. It can be used as grounds to reject the application of a Trademark due to unsuitable symbol utilization. Before the registration, the symbol is permitted to use TM. This TM symbol is suitably used before or at the time of the application process to signify Trademark ownership. Following are some areas which owner needs to address as you properly utilize the R symbol:

• Product labelling or packaging;
• Advertising and marketing art and copy;
• Your website and other online presences.

4. Observe the Marketplace to Prevent Infringement: One of the most essential post Trademark registration compliances is that an owner of a Trademark should perform observing. Your registration and use of the R symbol can be a central command for the capable infringers. Still, it is vital to ensure that a third party is not obstructing your business reputation in the marketplace by utilising your registered Trademark without taking your permission. This includes supervision for direct infringements and usage of marks that may be confusingly similar to yours.

Trademark law needs owners to observe the marketplace to exclude the threat of violations and combine Trademark protection into Trademark ownership. If a third party can manage the not allowed use of a mark for an extended time which may lead to the Trademark rights loss for the registered holder due to their lack of attention.

Suppose anyone uses your Trademark in an illegal manner without your approval. In that case, they can actually use your neglect in defence of mark as a defence against any lawful enforcement action brought against them. By observing your mark, you are ensuring that your Trademark rights remain as robust as possible.

Conclusion

 From above, it is clear that the Trademark owner has three primary post Trademark Registration compliances, i.e., proper usage of the Trademark symbol, observing the marketplace to safeguard your Trademark from violation and making renewal filing. For that, you can take the help from an expert who can assist you in the greatest return on your investment as your entity keeps growing. Work cannot stop once your Trademark is successfully registered but can be a trial advantage to your brand, product, or business worth safeguarding from diligence.

Read our article:Among Trademark owned by a Promoter or Company, Which One is Better?