Trademarks

A trademark protects a word, phrase, symbol and/or design used with a product or service on the market, and is often referred to as a brand. Trademark rights are protected through registration, maintenance, watching, and enforcement, all of which are performed by The McCallum Law Firm.

Registration: Marks may be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or similar agencies throughout the world.

Maintenance: Trademarks must be maintained through proper use and due diligence. The key to trademark maintenance lies in the source identification function of marks. If and when a mark no longer identifies the source or origin of products and/or services, it is no longer a mark and becomes a generic term.

Watching: A watching service notifies trademark counsel of attempts to register conflicting marks, so that timely oppositions to adverse applications may be filed. These services are particularly useful in civil law countries where trademark rights are secured through registration rather than use.

Enforcement: Trademark enforcement consists of pursuing adverse users, users who are not authorized to use a mark but use it anyway, and/or users who are authorized to use the mark but use it improperly.