Branding

Today, almost everyone in business has a brand and understands to some extent what a brand is. Just ask your accountant. That is why it is important, especially in a challenging economic climate, to make sure that you have experts to advise you how to protect your brands and stop competitors or infringers from encroaching on your territory. But how do you know whether you should register your trademark as the first step, or whether you should concentrate on domain names or company names? And do you know if you can even use the mark you wish to adopt or someone else wants to stop you from using?

Products and services are easily identifiable through trademarks, service marks, trade dress, trade names and domain names. The market awareness created by these valuable intellectual property assets needs to be protected. Brand loyalty is a critical element in today's marketplace and successful brands need to be properly managed. Squire Sanders intellectual property lawyers are experienced in the creation and implementation of protection programs that ensure you reap the full benefits of brand awareness.

We have extensive experience in assisting clients in selecting trademarks. Depending on the potential scope of a particular mark, we conduct searches to determine the mark’s availability. Once a mark is selected, we assist in obtaining trademark registrations worldwide, policing those registrations, and opposing and applying to cancel third-party applications or registrations which may be too similar to our clients’ marks.

We do related work in the domain name field. We are experienced in both enforcing trademark and domain name registrations worldwide and defending clients against charges that their trademarks, trade names or domain names may be too similar to those of a third party. We enforce domain name rights with the experience built on success and industry participation.

Our lawyers also have extensive experience in assisting clients with commercializing their trademark properties, and have represented a variety of celebrities, professional athletes and companies concerning the licensing of their brands, as well as the protection of the right of publicity in a person’s name, image and likeness.

We are active in lobbying in relation to rights for brand owners by engaging in voluntary work for trade mark practitioner bodies in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. We also appear regularly in the trade press, commenting on developments and case law relating to brand protection and related issues. You can be sure that our advice is as current as possible.